Vatican City, Sep 21, 2017 / 12:29 pm
In a meeting with Italy's Anti-Mafia Parliamentary Commission on Thursday, Pope Francis said that dismantling the mafia begins with a political commitment to social justice and economic reform.
Corruption "has a contagious and parasitic nature, because it does not nourish what good produces, but…it subtracts and robs," Pope Francis said Sept. 21.
The meeting landed on the 27th anniversary of the death of Servant of God Rosario Livatino, who was a deputy prosecutor in an Italian court before being killed by mafia for his fight against corruption.
Called a "Martyr of Justice" by John Paul II, the Italian magistrate was commended by Pope Francis, who also praised two other judges – Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino – both killed in 1992.