VATICAN CITY : Pope to Mafia Country
Pope John Paul II journeys to crime-tossed Sicily this weekend for a pastoral visit certain to include a round of pontifical Mafia-bashing. The visit will begin Friday and end Sunday, Vatican aides say.
One of the Pope’s regular visits to Italian parishes, the trip to industrial Catania on the island’s east coast echoes a papal pilgrimage last spring to Agrigento in the heart of Mafia country further west. “Rise up, Sicily,” John Paul urged there in one of the strongest speeches of his pontificate, calling for popular rebellion against organized crime’s “culture of death.” The murder of an activist priest a few months later was seen as the crime cartel’s response to the Pope’s speech.
The pontiff will also visit the city of Siracusa.
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