Pope: Mafioso Risk Going To Hell With "Blood-Stained Power"

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Value systems that propose to offer the absolute -- such as communism, democracy and religious faith -- have to give devotees an entire system to explain the world, as well as rules and codes for what constitutes "good behavior." Most importantly, there must be an ideological foundation from which everything else springs.

The Catholic Church, of which I am a member, offers believers salvation, eternal life, the rite of reconciliation.

But as the Mafia can give its members no metaphysical or ideological foundation, it has turned to religion, using components of the Catholic Church to reconstruct a false version of the Catholic God to justify itself. (This belief is powerfully expressed in The Honored Society, by Petra Reski.)

This is the God of the Old Testament: the God of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth; the bloodthirsty God who destroyed mankind with his great flood, who easily annihilated Sodom and Gomorrah.

Catholic priests in Italy who have spoken out against the Mafia are far and few between; on the island of Sicily, a priest speaking out is even rarer. But some have. Father Nino Fasullo is one of them.

In the Honored Society, Father Fasullo said, "Religion may represent the only ideological apparatus to which [the Mafia] can refer."

He lives on the outskirts of Palermo and is known as the "anti-Mafia priest."

"There isn't a single Mafioso who isn't religious," he said, his voice sounding agonized. He has spent a lifetime giving lectures and writing on the subject. "We are all in the Church. Even the Mafia unfortunately," he told Reski."The church is embroiled in it. But regrettably not everyone in the church is convinced that opposition to the Mafia is necessary."

In Sicily, an Archbishop has been up before the courts for accepting bribes for awarding building contracts. One Palermo-based Cardinal famously said in the 1960s: "Mafia? Isn't that a brand of soap?"

The church is the Mafia's ethical point of reference, Father Fasullo said. "Over time an almost blind relationship of trust has established itself between [the church and the mafia]."

Pope John Paul II was known for speaking out against the Mafia; he was the first Pope ever to do so, labeling the group as the spawn of Satan.

Now Pope Francis has been picking up the mantel, recently, in view of all the child killings happening it Italy, has issued a warning that will have a more powerful effect on Italian Mafioso than we here in the U.S. could possibly imagine.

He quite clearly told them: that they will go to hell if they don't repent and renounce their "blood-stained money and blood-stained power."

As Kelsey Waananen wrote for the Examiner.com: "Pope Francis spoke strongly against the lifestyle of mobsters at a vigil held for those killed by the Italian mafia.

According to the Telegraph on March 21, the pope warned mobsters that their life after this one would be spent in hell if they did not convert and repent. The vigil was held for the 842 people who have had their lives taken by the Italian mafia since 1893.

After each name was read off, Pope Francis began his plea. As well as warning that mobsters will not be able to take their material goods with them, including their blood-stained money and power, he added, “This life that you live will not give you joy or happiness.” He implored them to think of their mothers and fathers and to let that motivate them to convert before they “end up in hell.”