"(CNN) -- "I don't know if organized criminals have the capability to do something to the Pope. But they are certainly thinking about it."
These words, uttered in a recent interview by an Italian anti-Mafia prosecutor, don't quite justify the alarming worldwide headlines they provoked, but at the same time it would be rash to dismiss them
out of hand.
The new Pope represents a serious threat to some established criminal interests at a critical moment in the long history of the Mafias' relationship with Catholicism -- a past marked by both intimacy and violence.
Italy's Mafia problem is as old as the Italian state. The three major Mafias -- the Camorra, the 'Ndrangheta, and Cosa Nostra -- originated in the political violence that led up to Italian unification in 1860.
The Church loathed the new Italian state because its unification had robbed the Pontiff of his earthly kingdom, leaving him only with the Vatican City. So the Church looked elsewhere for pious sources of authority.
Religion offers the Mafias a way to bind their organizations together, and gives them the feeling that they are extorting and killing in the name of a cause more noble than their own greed.
Much remains to be done before the Catholic Church in its entirety can be said to have distanced itself from the Mafia. Priests are not always keen to dance to the new tune issuing from St Peter's. Some still preside over the lavish weddings that weld underworld dynasties together. Religious festivals are still subject to Mafia infiltration.
At the centre of its archipelago of financial institutions sits the Institute for the Works of Religion (or IOR) -- the Vatican Bank. It handles the money of many religious orders. But it also acts like a little piece of the Caymen Islands on the western side of the Tiber River, which is what makes it attractive to people who want to keep their wealth away from the prying eyes of the law.
Just a few days ago he was particularly frank in condemning Italians who worship "the goddess bribe", and who give to charity while dodging tax.
Nobody knows how far the rot extends. Many suspect that the Mafias and sundry other shady cabals have for years been concealing money under the noses of bishops and cardinals. If Francis is really determined to carry through his clean-up, then likely as not there are plenty of people who would wish him harm.
So would the Mafia really murder the Pope? It is very unlikely. The Mafias rarely kill without first carrying out a cost-benefit analysis. Even a rudimentary projection of the likely consequences of a hit on the head of the Catholic Church would show it to be a catastrophic own goal. A much more probable scenario is that the Church will carry on reforming its finances, but at its habitual leaden-footed pace. Meanwhile, the dirty money will be spirited away." CNN
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders,...
Matthew 15:19
