By Pietro Gennarini
VATICAN CITY, Nov. 9, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Pope Benedict XVI addressed the representatives of police and security agencies in Vatican City today. After welcoming and greeting all those present, as well as the Italian representatives, he underlined how political authorities are the most adequate to identify the emerging risks to society. With the help of law and order, he said, such authorities can give «legislative and operational direction to combating crime.»
The Holy Father also reminded the members of Interpol that while military conflicts have decreased since the Cold War, violence today has taken on new forms. Among them, criminal violence is responsible for the majority of violent deaths in the world each year.
«The Church and the Holy See encourage all those who help to combat the scourge of violence and crime” said Pope Benedict, adding that «our world resembles more and more a global village.»
«The gravest forms of criminal activities can be seen in terrorism and organized crime.»
In particular, the Pope condemned terrorism defining it as «an obscure web of political complicity, with sophisticated technology, enormous financial resources and planning projects on a vast scale.»
Regarding organized crime, the Pontiff also expressed disapproval, stressing the numerous immoral and illicit activities perpetrated. “Human trafficking – a modern form of slavery – the smuggling of materials or substances such as drugs, arms, contraband goods, even the traffic of pharmaceuticals” are crimes that “transgress the moral barriers which were progressively built up by civilization and reintroduce a form of barbarism which denies man and his dignity,» the pope said.
The Pope emphasized how «violence in all its forms, whether crime or terrorism, is always unacceptable, because it profoundly wounds human dignity and is an offence against the whole of humanity. Pope Benedict invited the members of Interpol to combat such violence while respecting the rights of each man, and within moral and juridical norms.
«I renew to the authorities and all the staff of Interpol my gratitude for your work, which is not always easy and not always understood in its proper purpose,» the Holy Father said.
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On ZENIT’s web page:
For the full text of the Holy Father’s address to the members of Interpol, go to: http://www.zenit.org/article-35917?l=english
