Pope Visits Sardinia, Pleads for an End to ‘Culture of Violence’

Pope John Paul II on Saturday visited the heart of Sardinian bandit country, where bloody family vendettas and kidnapings are common, and urged people to overcome a “culture of violence.”

On the second day of his three-day visit to Sardinia, the pontiff made a brief stop at Nuoro, the provincial capital of a mostly backward area of shepherds where violence among rival clans of bandits and kidnaping are rife.

In an address to 10,000 people at the city’s stadium, the Pope dealt directly with the problem of kidnaping for ransom by appealing for the release of Gigino Devoto, a businessman abducted here four months ago.

He specifically mentioned crimes characteristic of Sardinian banditry, mentioning “vendetta, ransom, destruction of property, aggression and kidnaping.”

“These sufferings are more acute because they are rooted in ancient customs, in a sort of ancient culture of violence and death,” he said.

He urged Sardinians to build a civilization of charity and love to overcome “the negative weight of the culture of violence.”

Banditry in Sardinia differs from crime in other areas of Italy such as Naples or Sicily. The groups are very small, usually centered around one immediate family, and not organized like the Sicilian Mafia or the Neapolitan Camorra.