What should be the commitment of Christians to the defense of Creation and the protection of the living? Don Luigi Ciotti, 78 years old, founder of Libera, even before Gruppo Abele (he was in Udine for the first time, in this capacity, in 1974) will be in Udine to explain it on Saturday 25 May, at 5.30 pm, in the church of San Domenico where will illustrate the contents of “Laudato Sì” and “Laudate Deum” by Pope Francis. We met him a week ago in his hometown, Pieve di Cadore.
You have long maintained that the defense of Creation is threatened by large-scale crime. Even in these lands of ours?
«The anti-mafia prosecutor Giovanni Melillo has warned several times that the mafia is also present and rooted in the north, even in the north-east. On the occasion of the last complaint, two weeks ago, he added that the tools to fight it are inadequate or exist only on paper. And this causes us great anxiety, especially because it is certified that the criminal mafia presence is increasing in the north and also in this wonderful land. If, as the Prosecutor implies, we are not sufficiently trained to deal with the phenomenon, what prospects can we give ourselves? The mafia has been using artificial intelligence for some time. Which is becoming criminal intelligence.”
Is there a lack of supervision, are there no adequate controls?
«To tell the truth, these checks are already carried out – by the Prefecture, state bodies… – but, in fact, they do not always have adequate tools. Bear in mind that legality takes root only in fertile lands of responsibility and various types of associations have met here, very committed to rights and environmental protection, to ask questions, doubts and questions regarding the situation and the dangers of forms of illegality. Let me say that today silence becomes a crime and speaking is, on the contrary, a civil obligation. I would define it as an act of love.”
Are national prevention measures also insufficient?
«Everything is being done, at a national level, to weaken and weaken prevention. I’m talking, for example, about the hypocrisy of the commissioning of works, intended only to escape controls. Even by operating in this way, politics is creating that abysmal gap with the people and their needs that we find at every election.”
Francesco Dal Mas
