The fight against the Mafia. Mons. Pennisi (Monreale): “The Mafiosi who decide to convert must cooperate with judicial authorities”

“Over the past decades, also as a result of repeated manifestations of the exclusive criminal nature and of the extreme social danger posed by Mafia criminal syndicates, and the ensuing widespread public consciousness that rejects all forms of tolerance towards and passive coexistence with this phenomenon, the Church developed the firm, explicit belief that being a member of the Mafia is incompatible with the profession of Christian faith.” In the course of time, the fight against all forms of Criminal syndicates has become a distinctive trait of the episcopate of Msgr. Michele Pennisi, archbishop of Monreale. Also for this reason he welcomed the initiative of the diocese of Locri-Gerace that on Saturday October 7 held a Day of Prayer for the conversion of the Mafiosi.

Recent judicial inquiries show that the presence of the Mafia is no longer confined to the south of Italy.
The various Mafia syndicates perpetrate a specific form of corruption that involves the economic and political realms alike. The Mafia phenomenon in its multifarious expressions and denominations is now widespread, extending beyond the borders of Sicily and of Italy, taking root in previously uncontaminated areas and in all domains, notably those linked to economic and financial power: drug trafficking, prostitution, various kinds of criminal rackets from usury to the extortion of protection money, infiltration in political life and management of power at local and national level.

What is the role of the Church in the fight against the Mafia? It is the duty of the Church to help raising awareness that everyone, including Christians, foster the breeding grounds that foment the growth of the Mafia, and that it is equally important to help overcome the present situation through conversion to the Gospel, which is capable of giving birth to an anti-Mafia culture based on the awareness that the common good is the fruit of the responsible contribution of each and every one.

The declarations of the Bishops and of the Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis, who contributed to the interpretation and condemnation of the Mafia on the basis of original and traditional Christian categories, were of major import in the maturation of this mentality.

But couldn’t conversion be used as an expedient by the Mafioso who proclaims his repentance whilst continuing his criminal activities? 
The Church, by virtue of her very mission, addresses her appeal to conversion to the Mafiosi. However, the Church has to be vigilant that the ministry for the proclamation of God’s mercy is not exploited in an instrumental way by Mafia criminals, for example while they are on the run, and that it is not used to cover up or by aiding and abetting those who violate and continue violating the Law of God and of humankind. In the case of the Mafiosi, conversion entails the active commitment to uproot Mafia’s organized criminal syndicate.

What kind of commitment…? In his appeal to conversion the Church cannot refrain from reaffirming the requirements enshrined in Christian conversion. This means that she cannot refrain from reminding also the Mafiosi that conversion cannot be reduced to an intimate and private action: it always has a public connotation and it requires reparation. In the case of the Mafioso,

While conversion will certainly not bring the victims back to life, it carries with it the active commitment to uproot the Mafia’s criminal organization –

a relentless cause of injustice and violence – including reporting situations and accomplices who risk perpetrating further injustices to the judicial authorities.

Thus specific conditions must be adhered to, also with respect to justice. If a converted Mafioso failed to provide such indications he would be feeding into the code of silence and would be avoiding his duty of reparation. There is a connection between a sin one repents for and the retribution connected with the act of atonement. In the case of sins due to connections with Mafia organized crime, the “satisfaction” of the sin ought to be seen also in the punishment inflicted with a final criminal conviction, to which the Mafioso could thus not want to avoid. A new element was introduced by Pope Francis in his address in Sibari on June 21^st 2014: it contains the explicit condemnation of Mafia-related behaviour coupled by individual criminal activity typical of Mafia syndicates, that include the very fact of being a member of the Mafia. Pope Francis not only highlights the serious sin committed by the Mafiosi, he also states that the condition of sin of the Mafiosi is a criminal offence that entails excommunication, as it is marked by idolatry.

On March 21 2014 Pope Francis appealed to the men and women of the Mafia: “Please change your lives, convert, stop doing evil! We pray for you. There is still time not to end up in hell.” In Sibari, a few months later, he said:  “Those who follow this evil path in life, such as members of the mafia, are not in communion with God: they are excommunicated!”
 The Pope includes in the same act of condemnation both the Ndrangheta and the Mafia, the Camorra, the United Sacred Crown and other mafia-type criminal organizations, treating them as plagues that know no boundaries. Here Francis underlines that in addition to committing specific crimes,

the fact of being a member of the mafia is a crime in itself which requires canonical punishment, namely, excommunication and no religious funeral service.

Are there difficulties in the adoption of canonical sanctions at local level? It isn’t understandable why a mafia-related crime committed in the dioceses of Sicily, Calabria or Campania is punished with excommunication while when the same crime is committed in another region the punishment is not perceived owing to the lack of equal canonical sanctions. This regulatory vacuum at universal level can be explained with the difficulties encountered in the understanding of the mechanisms that enabled criminal organizations to worm their way throughout society and take roots. We should ask ourselves why excommunication is not applicable in those areas marked by the presence of Mafia-crime syndicates, whose members are not subject to excommunication owing to the lack of a formal decree issued by local bishops or by regional or national Conferences. A universal criminal law should envisage an all-encompassing understanding of canonically established mafia-related crimes, precisely because this phenomenon today is extended at global level. Hence excommunication acts like a medicine, as a warning, in view of the possibility of atonement and conversion.

Should Catholics be committed in first person in the fight against the Mafia? 
The Christian community is asked to carry out original gestures that may lead to the prevention of crimes connected with the Mafia, to be engaged in spreading the culture of legality and of spreading a culture that does not transform money and the unrestrained quest for power into idols to whose altar everything is sacrificed, starting with human life.