Pope Francis made another bold step, holding an open-air mass in a town known to be the home of Italy’s most ruthless mafia organization and saying their members are now excommunicated from the Catholic Church.
“Those who in their lives follow this path of evil, as mafiosi do, are not in communion with God. They are excommunicated,” the Pope said. “This evil must be fought against, it must be pushed aside. We must say no to it.”
The Pope had traveled to the southern region of Calabria to comfort the family of a 3-year-old boy who along with his grandparents was gunned down by mafia members in a shootout. Pope Francis visited the boy’s father in prison and tried to help him find peace over his son’s death.
“May children never again have to suffer in this way,” the Pope told him.
The mafia is known to be very religious despite their criminal activities and have given large amounts of money to Catholic Church activities and charities in the past. Anti-mafia prosecutors in Italy say until Pope Francis, many of the mafia laundered money through Catholic organizations.
In what some people are calling a very dangerous stand against the mafia in Italy, Pope Francis made a bold declaration against drug use Friday.
“Drug addiction is an evil, and with evil there can be no yielding or compromise,” the Pope said in an address carried by Vatican radio. “Here I would reaffirm what I have stated on another occasion: No to every type of drug use. It is as simple as that.”
The Pope addressed the issue because he believes there is a rush toward more drug abuse and use in western nations, specifically in so-called “soft drugs” like marijuana. He focused on issues such as U.S. states that have approved use of marijuana.
“Attempts, however limited, to legalize so-called ‘recreational drugs’, are not only highly questionable from a legislative standpoint, but they fail to produce the desired effects,” the Pope stated. “The scourge of drug use continues to spread inexorably, fed by a deplorable commerce which transcends national and continental borders.”
The Pope said that youth should say “yes” to things much more important than drugs: life, love, education, job opportunities and serving others ahead of themselves.
Vatican observers were stunned Friday when Pope Francis fired all five Italian members of the Vatican’s financial watchdog agency and replaced them with four international board members.
The Holy See’s Financial Information Authority has been facing conflict between the former board members and the agency’s head that wants to bring in international experts in rooting out money laundering. The agency has been cracking down on any potential money laundering or financial improprieties since Pope Francis assumed the Papacy.
“[FIA head Rene] Bruelhart wanted a board he could work with and it seems the pope has come down on his side and sent the old boy network packing,” an unnamed Vatican official told Reuters news agency.
The new board includes a woman for the first time.
The new members are Marc Odendall from Switzerland, Juan C. Zarate from the U.S., Joseph Yuvaraj Pillay from Singapore, and Maria Bianca Farina from Italy.
Pope Francis told a crowd at a Rome stadium that Satan is attacking the family.
The Pope was holding a special mass and rally at Olympic Stadium in Rome that featured over 50,000 people raising their hands and praying in unison for the Pontiff who has repeatedly asked the public to pray for him since assuming the office.
Pope Francis said that the family was the “domestic church” and that Satan would love nothing more than to destroy the stability of the family. He announced that he will have bishops from around the world to the Vatican in October to discuss ways the church can help rebuild and reinforce the families of the church.
The Pope also brought a lighthearted moment to the event when he shared a story about his early days as an archbishop in Buenos Aires. He said that he didn’t “share” the way charismatic Catholics prayed there, dancing and singing, but later realized the “charismatic renewal is a great force.” He said that he thought the actions of the charismatics reminded him of salsa dancing.
Everyone following Pope Francis through his travel in the Holy Land was shocked when he ordered his vehicle to stop so he could pray at the wall which separates Bethlehem from Jerusalem.
“He got down from the Popemobile and walked up to the wall,” said the Rev Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman. “He remained there for some minutes, praying silently. He then touched the wall with his forehead.”
The Pope reportedly chose a place at the wall directly below a watchtower manned by Israeli soldiers.
The move delighted Palestinians who had previously been celebrating the Pope’s references to the “state of Palestine.” The flight of the Pope from Amman, Jordan to Bethlehem was hailed by Palestinians as another recognition from the Pope that there should be a Palestinian homeland.
An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said that the Vatican recognized Palestine as a state a long time ago, so the language used by the Pope is nothing new. They restated their position that they disagree with the Vatican’s position and will continue to express their opposition to supporting people who seek the destruction of Israel.
A group of ultra-Orthodox Jews are protesting outside of the Last Supper near Jerusalem because of plans by Pope Francis to hold a mass at the site next week.
The Jews claim that allowing Christians to worship where Jesus held his last meal with his disciples is a violation of their beliefs.
“Under Jewish law it is a big problem,” Rabbi Avraham Goldstein told NBC News. “Basically they are taking over the place.”
Protests are also taking place because the Pope is simply planning to visit the site.
“When ‘the crusaders’ come here making the sign of the cross and all kinds of rituals, this place will become idolatrous for us,” protester Yitzhak Batzon told AFP news agency. “We will not have the right to pray there anymore.”
The head of the Catholic Church in Israel said he is concerned about security, especially following a rash of vandalism with anti-Christian and racist statements at various Cathedrals.
Pope Francis said that one cannot be a Christian without the church in their life.
“Our Christian identity is belong to a people: the Church,” the Pontiff said during Mass. “Without this, we are not Christians. We entered the Church through baptism: there we are Christians.”
The Pope said that someone who says they are a Christian but not a part of the church is simply a laboratory experiment. He pointed out that not even Jesus was alone.
“Jesus Christ did not fall from the sky like a superhero who comes to save us. No. Jesus Christ has a history. And we can say, and it is true, that God has a history because He wanted to walk with us. And you cannot understand Jesus Christ without His history. So a Christian without history, without a Christian nation, a Christian without the Church is incomprehensible. It is a thing of the laboratory, an artificial thing, a thing that cannot give life,” Francis said.
The Pope also said that people should seek to renew the covenant of grace with God every day.
Pope Francis says the idea of rejecting evil or Satan in the 21st century is something that needs to be rejected by Christians and that they need to learn the Gospel so they can learn to fight temptations.
“Some of you might say ‘But Father, how old fashioned you are to speak of the devil in the 21st century!’,” the Pope said. “But look out because the devil is present! The devil is here…even in the 21st century!”
The Pope warned those listening during a mass at the Vatican that Satan seeks to distance believers from Jesus.
“We mustn’t be naïve,” he said. “We must learn from the Gospel how to fight against Satan!”
The Pope called the Christian life a struggle and said we cannot forget that we fight against the “Prince of this world, Satan, [who] doesn’t want our holiness, he doesn’t want us to follow Christ.”
The Pope’s bold, clear message about fighting Satan and evil came hours before a second talk where he spoke of the damage done to children by priests who committed sexual abuse. He said the church will work on stronger sanctions against anyone who harms a child.
“We have to be even stronger,” Pope Francis said. “You cannot interfere with children.”
Pope Francis has taken the boldest stand against abortion since his ascension to the Papacy.
The Pope said that human life is “sacred and inviolable” and that every civil law is based “ on the recognition of the first and most fundamental right, the right to life.” The Pope went on to praise groups that are working to save life “in all its phases.”
“Life once conceived, must be protected with the utmost care; abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes,” Pope Francis said. “It is therefore necessary to reiterate the strongest opposition to any direct attack on life, especially innocent and defenseless, and her unborn child in the womb is the innocent par excellence.”
The Pope went further and said the devaluation of human life via abortion is a direct result of the economics of the world that see human beings as nothing more than a means to an end.
“If you look at life as something that is consumed,” the Pope said, “it will also be something that sooner or later you can throw away, with abortion to begin with.”
