Vatican denies mafia threat to Pope

According to a VNA correspondent in Italy, the Vatican has dismissed all concerns surrounding the safety of Pope Francis I, saying there is no reason to be concerned about rumors about mafia threats to him.

Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said on November 15 that the Pope was "extremely calm" about the alleged threat and that "the Holy See has nothing to worry about because these are just ordinary rumors."

The Vatican has dismissed concerns about the safety of Pope Francis I. (Source: AP)

Earlier, Nicola Gratteri, a prosecutor in Reggio Calabria, a southern Italian city, warned that Pope Francis could be targeted by the mafia because of his reforms to the Vatican Bank aimed at improving financial transparency for the Vatican.

According to Gratteri, the notorious 'Ndrangheta mafia gang is angry that the Pope is threatening its interests and touching the nerve of organized crime by carrying out reforms of the Vatican Bank.

Nicola Gratteri is a known enemy of the notorious 'Ndrangheta in Reggio Calabria. Although he did not substantiate his warning, Gratteri's words spread through the Italian and foreign media, fueling concerns for the Pope's safety.

Implicit in Gratteri's comments is that the Italian mafia has roots in the Vatican's opaque financial dealings and agencies.

Since taking office in March 2013, one of Pope Francis' first steps was to set up a special commission tasked with investigating the Vatican Bank and examining the entire Vatican's finances, handling many of the Vatican bank's internal real estate holdings, and calling on an American financial consultant to conduct an objective assessment of the Vatican bank's money laundering practices.

The Vatican bank, known as the Institute for Religious Works, was the main shareholder of Banco Ambrosiano, which collapsed in 1982 amid allegations of money laundering for the mafia.

Banco Ambrosiano chairman Roberto Calvi, known as "God's Banker," was hanged from a bridge in London in 1982, a murder suspected to have been carried out by the mafia.

The Administration of the Patriarchate of the Apostolic See, the Vatican agency that manages real estate assets, has also come under scrutiny since its senior cleric Nunzio Scarano was arrested in June 2013 on suspicion of playing a central role in dubious international payments made through the Vatican bank.

Scarano wrote to the Pope in his defense while also accusing Vatican cardinals of covering up financial irregularities carried out by his superiors.

In Italy, various organized crime groups are often considered responsible for assassinations and kidnappings, but the most notorious is the Calabrian mafia organization 'Ndrangheta.

The 'Ndrangheta mafia organization dominates Calabria, an impoverished region in southern Italy, specializing in drugs, arms trafficking, prostitution, extortion and illegal construction and plays a key role in organized crime across Europe as well as international drug trafficking routes from South America.

Over the past decades, the 'Ndrangheta has become the largest and most feared mafia organization among the four major organized crime gangs in Italy./.

According to VNA