NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- Cardinal Michele Giordano, who became the focus of a church-state debate in Italy when police searched his office in connection with an investigation into Mafia activities, has renewed his own personal call for the Mafia to disband.

      "Put down your arms!" the Naples prelate said, in response to an incident in which innocent bystanders were wounded during a shootout between rival gangs. "Renounce this warfare, which produces only losers, and never winners."

      The cardinal also called upon the people of Naples to close ranks in opposition to the work of organized crime. He asked believers to "pray for the conversion of hearts hardened by violence, and for a future that will offer the hope of peace."

      Cardinal Giordano encouraged law-enforcement authorities to redouble their efforts to break the Mafia. But he addressed most of his remarks to the criminals themselves. "God will judge you," he warned, "and his justice-- unlike that of man-- cannot be escaped."