Pope Leo, smiling and excited as rarely seen before, almost bursts into a heartfelt "Viva Napoli!" in Piazza del Plebiscito, embracing the citizens, at the end of a pastoral visit that began early in the morning from the shrine of Pompeii. The emotions of the intense day did not, however, prevent the Pontiff from issuing a firm denunciation of the criminal underworld in the very city that, as its archbishop Mimmo Battaglia also noted, is still being killed by the Camorra.
"Naples today is experiencing a dramatic paradox," Leone observed, "the significant growth in tourists is struggling to match the economic dynamism capable of truly engaging the entire social community. The city remains marked by a social divide that no longer separates the center from the suburbs, but is actually marked within each area, with existential peripheries nestled even in the heart of the historic center ."
"In many areas," he continued, "we see a veritable geography of inequality and poverty, fueled by long-unresolved problems: income inequality, poor job prospects, a lack of adequate facilities, pervasive crime, the tragedy of unemployment, and school dropouts." "Faced with these realities," he added, "which at times assume worrying proportions, the presence and action of the State is more necessary than ever, to provide security and trust to citizens and to remove the space for organized crime."
The morning, coinciding with the first anniversary of his pontificate, began at the shrine of Pompeii, where Pope Leo revived the prayer of Saint Bartolo Longo to the Madonna, an event that draws thousands of faithful worldwide every May 8th. "Two intentions remain of pressing relevance," he said from here: "the family, which suffers from the weakening of the marital bond, and peace, jeopardized by international tensions and an economy that favors the arms trade over respect for human life."
"The wars still being fought in many regions of the world," he appealed, "require a renewed commitment, not only economic and political, but also spiritual and religious. Peace is born within the heart." "We cannot resign ourselves to the images of death that the news presents us every day." Moving to Naples in the afternoon,
