Vatican fights to ‘free Virgin Mary from mafia’

Pope backs drive to end deviant spirituality' of Italian crime families who use Madonna as a shield of religious respectability

Early in his papacy, Pope Francis responded to a particularly gruesome double murder in Calabria by travelling to the region and issuing a ringing condemnation of 'Ndrangheta, the local mafia-type organisation responsible. Addressing an audience of 200,000 people in June 2014, he said: The 'Ndrangheta represents the adoration of evil and contempt of the common good ... they are excommunicated."

The following month, with the pope back in Rome, an officially sanctioned religious procession through the streets of the Calabrian town of Oppido Mamertina halted outside the home of Giuseppe Mazzagatti, a local 'Ndrangheta boss. There, a giant statue of the Virgin Mary was made to bow in homage and obedience to Mazzagatti. Outraged police officers refused to accompany the procession as it then moved on through the town.