Francis: mafia members ‘are excommunicated’

Pope Francis is calling for Italy’s organized crime groups to give up “the adoration of evil,” telling members of the mafia they “are excommunicated” from the Catholic Church.

The pope ventured into the heartland of the country’s most powerful mafia group, known as ‘Ndrangheta, on June 21 to issue the strongest papal attack on organized crime since the late Pope John Paul II attacked the Sicilian mafia in 1993.

“Those who in their lives follow this path of evil, as mobsters do, are not in communion with God. They are excommunicated,” Francis told tens of thousands who gathered to celebrate mass in the town of Sibari. “We must fight against this evil, it must be pushed aside. We must say no to it.”