Pope Francis took the Mafia to task at the weekend, calling on them to repent, convert and cease exploiting and enslaving people.
He was speaking in reference to the beatification of Don Giuseppe “Pino” Puglisi on Saturday, a Sicilian priest gunned down by the Mafia in 1993 for practising the faith in standing up to organised crime.
In May 1993, Blessed John Paul II angrily called on Mafiosi to "repent, because one day you will face the judgment of God".
But such comments drew an interesting response from a reader, who wrote: “Why do we say this to the Mafia but would not dream of saying this, and much more, to the Catholic politicians whose power is used to kill unborn babies in quantities no mobster would find acceptable?”
He felt the Holy Father should "truly be ready to take on the new Nazis who run the West,” and lamented that, for Church leaders, it is not a problem to have coffee with the likes of Joe Biden and President Obama, but "we shake with rage at the mention of John Gotti.”
Should the Pope and the Church be as vocal, if not more so, in speaking out against such politicians and public figures - especially Catholic ones - who favor and promote legalized abortion?
Or should the fact that such politicians have deluded themselves into thinking they are doing the right thing (as opposed to Mafiosi who, by and large, are fully conscious of their crimes) elicit a different, more prudent and even sensitive response?