Excommunication breakdown between the Pope and a country enamoured of the mob
POPE Francis has instructed a Vatican commission to draft a new doctrine for excommunicating Catholics convicted of corruption or mafia-related crimes.
More than 50 prosecutors, bishops, United Nations representatives and victims of organised crime came together for a Vatican conference this week to hammer out the Church’s new legal doctrine concerning “the question of excommunication for corruption and mafia association”.
“Our effort is to create a mentality; a culture of justice that fights corruption and promotes the common good,” said Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s retired ambassador to the UN in Geneva, who was one of the conference participants. While Pope Francis has bluntly called for the excommunication of mobsters before, it is the first time mafia and corruption crimes are being considered together – not worthy of pardon because they are habitual criminal ways of life, as opposed to a single act of sin.
Excommunication, which bans Catholics from participating in the sacraments or communion, is one of the most severe penalties within the Church. It has been used in the past to isolate a number of religious sects, such as the ultra-conservative followers of French archbishop Marcel-francois Lefebvre.
But in a Catholic country where corruption in public life is not uncommon, some have publicly complained excommunication for extortion or paying bribes is a step too far.
“I think the Vatican should judge case by case. I confessed to my guilt and I don’t think I should be excommunicated,” ex-senator Sergio De Gregorio told La Repubblica.
Caught up in one of former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi’s political corruption scandals, Mr De Gregorio admitted as part of a plea bargain he took millions in bribes in exchange for switching sides to help topple Romano Prodi’s centre-left government in 2008.