ACERRA, Italy — Grieving families in a contaminated region surrounding Naples gathered Saturday to meet with Pope Leo XIV during his pastoral visit, bringing decades of sorrow, frustration and pleas for accountability following the deaths of their children from cancer connected to organized crime’s massive toxic waste disposal operations.
The papal visit to the region known as Terra dei Fuochi, or Land of Fires, occurred just before the 11th anniversary of Pope Francis’ major environmental encyclical Laudato Si (Praised Be), demonstrating Leo’s commitment to continuing his predecessor’s focus on ecological issues.
Last year, the European Court of Human Rights confirmed residents’ longstanding claims that criminal organizations’ dumping, burying and incineration of hazardous materials resulted in higher cancer rates and other health problems across 90 municipalities near Caserta and Naples, affecting 2.9 million people.
The court determined that Italian officials had been aware of the contamination since 1988, attributing it to the Camorra crime organization that oversees waste management, yet failed to implement adequate measures to safeguard residents’ health. The legally binding decision granted Italy two years to establish a toxic waste database and document health hazards for area residents.
The pontiff traveled to Acerra to meet families who have lost young family members to cancer, representing the human toll of environmental contamination. Bishop Antonio Di Donna calculated that 150 young people have perished in the city of approximately 58,000 during the last 30 years.
“We very much wanted the pope to meet with them because these children and young people who have died are, to all intents and purposes, victims of environmental pollution. There is a link, a correlation between pollution and the incidence of cancer,” Di Donna said.
Among those lost was Maria Venturato, who succumbed to cancer in 2016 at age 25. Her father Angelo expressed his desire to speak with the pope about their circumstances, “not for me … for the next generation.”
“I’d like to give these young people a future, so I’m asking for the pope’s help with this. That is, I’m making a strong appeal to him to go to those in power and say, ‘Look, let’s heal this land of fires,’” he said.
Filomena Carolla intends to give the pope a memorial book documenting the life of her daughter, Tina De Angelis, who died of cancer at 24.
“I’m just angry at the people who poisoned the soil, because what did our children have to do with it? What did they have to do with it, so young,” Carolla said.
Francis’ original plans to visit the region in 2020 were postponed due to the pandemic.
