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Pope Francis sent a message sent to a conference organized by the "Libera" association. The event bore the title “Conference on the Social Use of Assets Confiscated from the Mafia.” The Pope noted that organized crime inflicts a wound on societies across the globe, calling for a global reaction to this transnational problem.
MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
TO THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE CONFERENCE ON THE SOCIAL USE
OF PROPERTY CONFISCATED FROM MAFIAS, ORGANIZED BY THE
PONTIFICIAL ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
[19-20 September 2024]
____________________
Most Rev. President, Your Eminence, Your Excellencies,
illustrious ladies and gentlemen,
dear friends.
I extend a warm welcome to all of you, participants in the Conference on the social use of property confiscated from mafias, organized by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, which you are holding these days.
The theme you are dealing with at this convention is oriented towards mitigating criminal organizations through the recovery of the common good. Given the wound that transnational organized crime represents for society, there is no remedy other than having the political will to confront a global problem with a global response, as the then Secretary General of the UN, Mr. Kofi Annan, pointed out in the preface to the Palermo Convention and its protocols.
Organized crime, which is defined as a structured group that establishes itself over time and acts jointly to commit crimes with the aim of obtaining a material or economic benefit, has a transnational vocation, and encompasses all major trafficking. The fight against it is one of the most important challenges for the international community because it represents, together with terrorism, the most important non-military threat against the security of each 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 collaborate with each other to identify and recover its assets, in order to prevent the continuation of its criminal activities. It is necessary, however, to bear in mind that the recovery of assets should not be limited to this objective of criminal policy, but should be inspired by the reparation and reconstruction of the common good, which the conciliar Constitution Gaudium et spes defines as “the sum total of those conditions of social life by which men, families and associations can more fully and easily achieve their own perfection” (n. 26).
Organized 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 marginalized groups that are especially vulnerable to the activities of organized crime. It is neither possible nor tolerable to forget these victims because only by thinking about them can we understand the damage caused by organized crime, and only by understanding this damage can we discern how to assist, protect and repair, aspects essential to solving conflicts and pacifying. In this sense, the Italian model is a good example of how criminal profits can be directed to repairing the damage caused to victims and to society; of how these can serve to rebuild the common good and to pacify.
Convinced that it is essential to have an integrated approach to the fight against crime and to strengthen international cooperation, I invite you to focus the discussions of these days on the urgency of recovering the good of all people, men and women, the good of each person, where everyone counts and no one is discarded, where the common project, at the service of human dignity, exceeds the individual sum of each one.
Finally, while I assure you of my remembrance in prayer and my best wishes for the successful development of your convention, I encourage you to share your experiences and reflect, but without losing sight of the victims and the community, orienting yourself towards action, understanding law and justice as a practice that has as its mission the construction of a better world.
And with these sentiments, I reaffirm 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
TO THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE CONFERENCE ON THE SOCIAL USE
OF PROPERTY CONFISCATED FROM MAFIAS, ORGANIZED BY THE
PONTIFICIAL ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
[19-20 September 2024]
____________________
Most Rev. President, Your Eminence, Your Excellencies,
illustrious ladies and gentlemen,
dear friends.
I extend a warm welcome to all of you, participants in the Conference on the social use of property confiscated from mafias, organized by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, which you are holding these days.
The theme you are dealing with at this convention is oriented towards mitigating criminal organizations through the recovery of the common good. Given the wound that transnational organized crime represents for society, there is no remedy other than having the political will to confront a global problem with a global response, as the then Secretary General of the UN, Mr. Kofi Annan, pointed out in the preface to the Palermo Convention and its protocols.
Organized crime, which is defined as a structured group that establishes itself over time and acts jointly to commit crimes with the aim of obtaining a material or economic benefit, has a transnational vocation, and encompasses all major trafficking. The fight against it is one of the most important challenges for the international community because it represents, together with terrorism, the most important non-military threat against the security of each 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 collaborate with each other to identify and recover its assets, in order to prevent the continuation of its criminal activities. It is necessary, however, to bear in mind that the recovery of assets should not be limited to this objective of criminal policy, but should be inspired by the reparation and reconstruction of the common good, which the conciliar Constitution Gaudium et spes defines as “the sum total of those conditions of social life by which men, families and associations can more fully and easily achieve their own perfection” (n. 26).
Organized 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 marginalized groups that are especially vulnerable to the activities of organized crime. It is neither possible nor tolerable to forget these victims because only by thinking about them can we understand the damage caused by organized crime, and only by understanding this damage can we discern how to assist, protect and repair, aspects essential to solving conflicts and pacifying. In this sense, the Italian model is a good example of how criminal profits can be directed to repairing the damage caused to victims and to society; of how these can serve to rebuild the common good and to pacify.
Convinced that it is essential to have an integrated approach to the fight against crime and to strengthen international cooperation, I invite you to focus the discussions of these days on the urgency of recovering the good of all people, men and women, the good of each person, where everyone counts and no one is discarded, where the common project, at the service of human dignity, exceeds the individual sum of each one.
Finally, while I assure you of my remembrance in prayer and my best wishes for the successful development of your convention, I encourage you to share your experiences and reflect, but without losing sight of the victims and the community, orienting yourself towards action, understanding law and justice as a practice that has as its mission the construction of a better world.
And with these sentiments, I reaffirm 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
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