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| "My brother Cardinals made me a surprise. / But it's nothing compared to the surprises I'll make them." (by Giannelli, the main cartoonist for Corriere della Sera) |
This is what the Pope said in Calabria yesterday:
When adoration of the Lord is substituted by adoration of money, the road to sin opens up to personal interest ... When one does not adore the Lord, one becomes an adorer of evil, like those who live by dishonesty and violence. Your land, which is so beautiful, knows the signs of the consequences of this sin. The ‘Ndrangheta [the Calabrian mafia] is this: adoration of evil and contempt of the common good. This evil must be fought, must be expelled. It must be told 'no'. The Church, which is so committed to educating consciences, must always work even harder so that good can prevail. Our children ask this of us. Our young people ask this of us, they who need hope. In order to respond to this demands, faith can help us. Those who in their lives have taken this evil road, this road of evil, such as the mobsters [mafiosi], they are not in communion with God, they are excommunicated. [*]
Vatican spokesman Father Ciro Benedettini said the pope's stern words did not constitute a formal over-arching decree of canon (Church) law, regarding excommunication, which is a formal legal process.
Rather, he said it was more of a direct message to members of organised crime that they had effectively excommunicated themselves, reminding them that they could not participate in Church sacraments or other activities because they had distanced themselves from God through their criminal actions.
Still, the use of the highly charged word by a pope was significant because many members of organised crime in Italy see themselves as part of a religious, cult-like group, take part in sacraments, go to church and in some cases have also found complicity by some churchmen in the south.
The pope, Benedettini said, was trying to "isolate mafiosi within their own communities," sending a message that they should not in any way be looked up to as "men of honour".
So, they are not canonically excommunicated in a strict sense -- they are in a state in which, without confession and permanent resolution not to sin, they must refrain from receiving Holy Communion. Like many others in a permanent state of grave sin (though, admittedly, some mafiosi may not be so public about their sinful activity).
In this situation, perhaps the mafiosi should call upon Cardinal Kasper to act as their canon lawyer and/or theologian in their attempt to receive Communion while in a permanent state of public sin -- he knows all the shortcuts to accomplish this.
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*Translation originally by Vatican Radio; we corrected it on June 23 in order to give it a meaning more in tune with the Italian original.
In this situation, perhaps the mafiosi should call upon Cardinal Kasper to act as their canon lawyer and/or theologian in their attempt to receive Communion while in a permanent state of public sin -- he knows all the shortcuts to accomplish this.
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*Translation originally by Vatican Radio; we corrected it on June 23 in order to give it a meaning more in tune with the Italian original.
