Features

Victims of injustice and the poor have found a champion in Pope Francis, who has spoken out against corruption in all its forms. But in doing so, he has made powerful enemies and, according to a seasoned observer, would be wise to adopt sensible precautions Pope Francis needs to be afraid – very afraid – of the various Italian Mafias, yet it seems he is not taking warnings about them too seriously. No reason for concern and no need to feed alarmism, said a Vatican spokesman in response to suggestions from a leading Calabrian prosecutor that the local Mafia, the ’Ndrangheta, were anxious at Francis’ moves to clean up the banking and other financial arrangements inside the Vatican, to the point where they might want to “trip him up”. Nobody has much conf