attack on the mafia, warning gangsters
that they will go to hell unless they
repent and stop doing evil.
"Blood-stained money, blood-stained
power, you can't bring it with you to
your next life. Repent," he said.
He was speaking at a prayer vigil for
relatives of those killed by the mafia.
The Pope has spoken out frequently
about the evils of corruption and wrote
a booklet on the subject in 2005 when
he was archbishop of Buenos Aires.
The meeting near Rome on Friday –
organised by a citizens' group called
Libera – was aimed at demonstrating
the Roman Catholic Church's opposition
to organised crime, rejecting historic
ties with mafia bosses claiming to be
good Catholics.
The vigil was filled with those who have
suffered at the hands of the mafia,
including people whose family members
and loved ones had been killed.
As the names of those murdered were
read out, the Pope listened, deep in
sombre thought, says he BBC's Alan
Johnston in Rome.
After expressing solidarity with the 842
people at the vigil, he said that he could
not leave the service without
addressing those not present: The
"protagonists" of mafia violence.
"This life that you live now won't give
you pleasure. It won't give you joy or
happiness," he said.
"There's still time to not end up in hell,
which is what awaits you if you continue
on this path."
Our correspondent says there is a long
list of brave priests in Italy who have
stood up to the mafia, and some have
paid with lives.
But he says that the wider Church has
been accused of not doing enough to
confront the gangsters.
Anti-mafia activists hope that the Pope's
words are a signal that he is on their
side.
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