Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday denounced the "inhuman" mafia that plagues southern Italy and urged residents there to respond to the region's suffering by caring for one another and the common good.
Benedict made the comments while celebrating an open-air Mass in Lamezia Terme, in Calabria in the "toe" of boot-shaped Italy.
The region is home to the 'ndrangheta mob, which is today considered more powerful than the Sicilian Mafia and is one of the world's biggest cocaine traffickers. Calabria is also one of the poorest regions in Italy - it has a 12 percent unemployment rate compared with a national average of 7.9 percent, and a 39 percent jobless rate for people aged 15-24....