Naples, the condemnation and the cry of alarm are raised loudly bishop of Naples, monsignor Domenico Battaglia after the latest murders that have bloodied the streets of the city.
"They are killing Naples! The Camorra and the underworld are killing it, with the violence and cruelty of those who have forgottento be human!”. This is the alarm raised by the metropolitan archbishop of Naples, Monsignor Domenico Battaglia, following the latest murders and other bloody incidents that have occurred in the city.
Here is the full text of the prelate's speech released this morning through the official website La Chiesa di Napoli.
“They are killing Naples!
The trail of blood that is crossing the city these days, causing the death of young lives and terror and anguish to entire neighborhoods, streets, families, cannot leave us indifferent!
Under the cross of our city, more than ever today, we must stand together and without distinction of faith, politics, social and institutional role, avoiding lying supine waiting for something to change by itself and sitting down, resigned and accustomed to seeing Naples die!
They are killing Naples!
The Camorra and the underworld are killing it, with the violence and cruelty of those who have forgotten that they are human!
It is being killed by the indifference of those who look the other way, believing they can rest easy, not getting involved and not taking a stand!
It is being killed by the lack of attention from politics, both national and local, which seems to have become accustomed to the blood shed on Neapolitan soil, considering it as a country at war!
It is killing each of us to the extent that we pretend nothing is happening and forget that the present and future of our city depends on everyone's commitment, on the ability we will have to move from cold individualism to a renewed and warm sense of community, on the active desire to transform many small, frightened and distracted "I"s into the strength of a great "we", whose prophetic charge can be a sign and instrument of a possible resurrection of our land!
To the men of the Camorra, to the corrupt and to those in collusion with crime I say: return to being human! Convert! Your Bishop will not hold back in welcoming and accompanying the steps of conversion and the human rebirth of those who will listen to their conscience and the word of the Gospel, laying down their weapons, and undertaking paths of collaboration with justice!
To the many mothers of Naples, especially those who live in difficult neighborhoods and family situations, I say: be an instrument of conversion for your children, help your families to repent, be once again a womb that generates life and not accomplices in paths of death!
To all the institutions, to civil society, to men and women of good will, to my Neapolitan Church, I ask today more than ever to walk together, overcoming individualism and distrust, working together to restore Naples to its vocation as a city of peace, welcome, solidarity!
Now I feel even more the urgency to realize as soon as possible the Educational Pact for the City, and for this reason I have called next Wednesday 13 October the various representatives of civil society, the third sector and the ecclesial world with whom I am working on this initiative that wants to put the educational issue back at the center, starting from the youngest and their families, focusing on prevention and betting on the new generations!
The children and young people of Naples cannot be passive recipients of a change but must become its protagonists: on Thursday 14 October I will be in Ponticelli, in one of the neighbourhoods most affected by the Camorra escalation, together with a representation of the young people of the archdiocese to meet the children and young people of the deanery, in a moment of mutual listening, comparison, sharing.
They are killing Naples, and we cannot stand by and watch from the window: everyone should feel challenged by the cry of the city, everyone should give their own contribution to the life of the community, everyone should be a sign of resurrection for the new generations, walking together with the river of life and hope that has never stopped flowing through Naples and whose peaceful overflowing could wash away the blood spilled and fertilize new social springs!”
Article published on 12 October 2021 - 11:49
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