{"id":599906,"date":"2026-05-23T14:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T14:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/599906\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T14:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T14:28:09","slug":"pope-decries-unscrupulous-polluters-at-deadly-mafia-linked-dumping-ground-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/599906\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope decries \u2018unscrupulous\u2019 polluters at deadly, mafia-linked dumping ground | Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pope Leo has met Italian families whose loved ones have died or have cancer as a result of illegal toxic dumping linked to a multi-billion-euro criminal racket run by the mafia.<\/p>\n

Leo\u2019s visit to the Terra dei Fuochi, or Land of Fires, near Naples, came on the eve of the 11th anniversary of Pope Francis\u2019 big ecological encyclical, Laudato Si (Praised Be), and indicates Leo\u2019s commitment to carry on his predecessor\u2019s environmental agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have come first of all to gather the tears of those who have lost loved ones, killed by environmental pollution caused by unscrupulous people and organisations who for too long were able to act with impunity,\u201d Leo said in remarks to family members and clergy inside Acerra\u2019s cathedral.<\/p>\n

The pontiff recalled that the area was once called \u201cCampania felix\u201d, Latin for blessed or fruitful countryside, \u201ccapable of enchanting for its fertility, its produce and its culture, like a hymn to life. And yet \u2013 here is death, of the land and of men.\u201d<\/p>\n

The European court of human rights last year validated a generation of residents\u2019 complaints that mafia dumping, burial and burning of toxic waste led to an increased rate of cancer and other ailments in the area of 90 municipalities around Caserta and Naples, encompassing a population of 2.9 million people.<\/p>\n

The court found Italian authorities had known since 1988 about the pollution, blamed on the Camorra crime syndicate that controls waste disposal, but failed to take steps to protect the residents. The binding ruling gave Italy<\/a> two years to set up a database about the toxic waste and the verified health risks associated with living there.<\/p>\n

In opening remarks, the local bishop Antonio Di Donna estimated 150 young people had died in the city of about 58,000 over the past three decades \u2013 emphasising that the number did not include adults or victims from other municipalities.<\/p>\n

He urged the pope to admonish those who continue to pollute, noting that the dumping of tonnes of toxic waste was reported a day earlier near Caserta. Di Donna said Italian officials had identified dozens more similar sites throughout the country, including the Venetian port of Marghera, and the leaching of forever chemicals (Pfas) into groundwater near Vicenza.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe say to those brothers of ours ensnared in evil and seized by a mirage of fabulous earnings: convert, change your ways, because what you are doing is not only a crime, it is a sin that cries out to God for vengeance,\u2019\u2019 the bishop said.<\/p>\n

The pope later greeted the mayors of the 90 communities affected by the toxic dumping, and thousands of people waving yellow flags and chanting \u201cPapa Leone\u201d along the route of his popemobile and in a central piazza.<\/p>\n

The pope leaves Calipari Square at the end of his pastoral visit in Acerra, near Naples. Photograph: Andrew Medichini\/AP<\/p>\n

Angelo Venturato, whose daughter Maria died of cancer in 2016 at the age of 25, said the day before the pope\u2019s visit that he hoped to speak to him to explain their reality, \u201cnot for me \u2026 for the next generation\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to give these young people a future, so I\u2019m asking for the pope\u2019s help with this. I\u2019m making a strong appeal to him to go to those in power and say: \u2018Look, let\u2019s heal this land of fires,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Inside the cathedral, Filomena Carolla presented the pope with a book containing memories from the life of her daughter, Tina De Angelis, who died of cancer at the age of 24.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just angry at the people who poisoned the soil, because what did our children have to do with it? What did they have to do with it, so young?\u201d Carolla said on Friday.<\/p>\n

Francis\u2019s plans to visit the area in 2020 were cancelled because of the Covid pandemic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pope Leo has met Italian families whose loved ones have died or have cancer as a result of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":599907,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-599906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=599906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/599907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=599906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=599906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=599906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}