Pope Francis asked forgiveness
Monday on behalf of all Catholics for the "persecution" of
Pentecostals during remarks to an evangelical community in
southern Italy.
The pope said Catholics in the past were "tempted by the
devil" when they contributed to the harsh treatment of
Pentecostal members.
"Among those who have persecuted and denounced the
Pentecostals, almost as if they were crazy about ruining the
race, there were also Catholics," Francis said during a meeting
with evangelicals in Caserta, a city near Naples.
"I am the shepherd of the Catholics, and I ask forgiveness
for those Catholic brothers and sisters who did not understand
and were tempted by the devil".
During the Fascist period in Italy, in the 1920s and 1930s
in particular, Pentecostal members were persecuted by
authorities, with the Church's knowledge.
Pentecostalism is a Protestant faith that emphasizes a
direct, personal relationship with God which is different from
the Catholic Church, which includes the pope, priests and the
sacraments as also crucial to the relationship between God and
individuals.
Since his election almost 18 months ago, the pope has been
making efforts to reach out to other faiths through meetings
with leaders of Protestant groups, as well as senior Jewish and
Muslim leaders.
Francis landed by helicopter in Caserta, his second visit
there in three days, and was scheduled to meet privately with an
old friend, Italian Pentecostal pastor Giovanni Traettino, as
well as a group of around 350 faithful.
The pair first met in Buenos Aires when Francis was the
archbishop of the Argentine capital, the Vatican said earlier
this month.
Traettino, who is married and has four children and two
grandchildren, has been active in ecumenical circles for years
and his church is called the Evangelical Church of
Reconciliation.
During his remarks, the pope emphasized the similarities
between Catholics and Pentecostals, noting that both are
Christian, and said that all should celebrate the diversity
among faiths.
Francis was also in Caserta on Saturday, where he repeated
his message denouncing the mafia.
In June Francis accused mafiosi of practising "the
adoration of evil" during a visit to the southern region of
Calabria where he excommunicated them.
The province of Caserta is the base of the infamous
Caselesi clam of Campania's Camorra mafia syndicate.
Earlier this year the mayor of Caserta, Pio Del Gaudio,
wrote to the pope about the so-called ecomafia, whose dumping
and burning of toxic waste have led to parts of the surrounding
province to be dubbed the "land of fires".
Mafia infiltration of waste disposal has become a major
environmental and health issue as hundreds of tonnes of waste -
some of it dangerously contaminated - has been illegally dumped
in what some have described as an ecological time bomb that will
continue to poison the land for at least another 50 years.
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