Pope Francis calls for an integrated approach to combat organized crime or mafia

Pope Francis sent a message to a conference organized by the association “Libera.” The event was entitled “Conference on the Social Use of Assets Seized by the Mafia.” The Pope noted that organized crime is a wound to societies around the world and called for a global response to this transnational problem.

MESSAGE FROM HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
TO THE PARTICIPANTS OF THE CONFERENCE ON SOCIAL USE
OF GOODS SEIZED FROM MAFIAS ORGANIZED BY THE
PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
(September 19-20, 2024)
____________________
Most Reverend President, Your Eminence, Your Excellencies,
illustrious ladies and gentlemen,
best friends.
I warmly welcome all of you, participants in the conference on the social use of property confiscated from the mafia, organised by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, which is hosting you today.
The theme you are addressing in this convention is aimed at curbing criminal organizations by restoring the public interest. Given the wound that transnational organized crime represents for society, there is no other remedy than the political will to address a global problem with a global response, as the then UN Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, indicated in the preface to the Palermo Convention and its protocols.
Organized crime, defined as a structured group that establishes itself over time and acts collectively to commit crimes with the aim of obtaining material or economic advantage, has a transnational vocation and encompasses all major trade. The fight against it is one of the main challenges for the international community, because it represents, together with terrorism, the main non-military threat to the security of every nation and international economic stability.
In a scenario where crime knows no State borders or national sovereignty, there is now an international consensus that States, through their institutions, should not only investigate and prosecute organized crime, but also cooperate with each other to identify and recover their assets, in order to prevent the continuation of their criminal activities. It is necessary to bear in mind, however, that the recovery of assets cannot be limited to this goal of criminal policy, but must be inspired by the repair and reconstruction of the common good, which the Conciliar Constitution Gaudium et Spes defines as “the sum of those conditions of social life through which individuals, families and associations can more fully and easily attain their own perfection” (n. 26).
Organised crime, in its brutality, attacks the common good; it attacks millions of men and women who have the right to live their lives and raise their children with dignity, free from hunger and fear of violence, oppression or injustice; it attacks socially marginalised groups who are particularly vulnerable to the activities of organised crime. It is neither possible nor tolerable to forget these victims, because only by thinking of them can we understand the damage caused by organised crime, and only by understanding this damage can we discern how to help, protect and repair, aspects that are essential for resolving conflicts and pacifying. In this sense, the Italian model is a good example of how criminal profits can be directed towards repairing the damage caused to victims and to society; of how these can serve to rebuild and pacify the common good.
Convinced that an integrated approach to the fight against crime and strengthening international cooperation are essential, I invite you to focus the discussions of these days on the urgency of restoring the well-being of all people, men and women, the well-being of each person, in which everyone counts and no one is excluded, in which the common project, at the service of human dignity, transcends the individual sum of each.
Finally, while I assure you that I will keep you in my prayers and wish you all the best for the successful conduct of your congress, I would like to encourage you to share your experiences and reflect. But without losing sight of the victims and the community, focus on action and understand law and justice as a practice whose mission is to create a better world.
With these sentiments I repeat my prayers for you and your families, I bless you and I ask you, please, to pray for me.
From the Vatican, September 19, 2024
Francis