Pope Leo XIV made a historic visit on Saturday to Italy's infamous 'Land of Fires,' a region near Naples where the mafia has illegally dumped and burned hazardous waste for decades, poisoning both the environment and local communities.
A Legacy of Toxic Waste
Hazardous materials, often originating from Italy's wealthy northern industries, have long been set alight or buried in the area surrounding Acerra, a city of approximately 60,000 residents in the southern Campania region. For years, the soil, groundwater, and air have been contaminated with heavy metals, dioxins, and asbestos.
Cancer rates among the region's three million inhabitants are significantly higher than the national average, a direct consequence of this environmental degradation.
Pope's Message of Condemnation
During his visit, Pope Leo condemned what he described as 'a deadly mix of obscure interests and indifference toward the common good, which has poisoned the natural and social environment.' Speaking at the city's cathedral to clergy and families of pollution victims, he emphasized the fragility of beauty and the need for care and responsibility.
'This land has paid a heavy price. It has seen many of its children buried. It has borne witness to the suffering of children and innocents,' the pontiff declared, thanking activists for their courageous commitment to fighting the poisoning of the land.
Historical Context and Legal Actions
The 'Land of Fires,' also known as the 'Triangle of Death,' has served as a dump and illegal incineration site since the late 1980s. Instead of paying high costs for legal disposal, companies paid the Camorra mafia a fraction of the price to dump waste, including asbestos sheets, car tires, and industrial-strength glue.
In 2025, Europe's top human rights court ruled that Italy had failed to protect residents, giving the government two years to address the situation. Since 2013, multiple parliamentary inquiries have found authorities negligent and, in some cases, complicit. A 2018 Senate report stated that mobster criminality and political inaction had caused an ecological disaster.
Significance of the Visit
The pope's visit coincided with the 11th anniversary of the landmark climate manifesto 'Laudato Si' by his predecessor, Pope Francis, which denounced mankind's exploitation of the environment and was praised for its scientific grounding.
Local worshipper Giuseppina De Francesco, 60, told AFP, 'The pope is maybe the only person who can awaken the conscience a little bit of all the people who have harmed this territory.'
