Pope on anti-mafia crusade in Naples

Pope Francis will visit Naples on Saturday and send a strong message to the local mafia, the Camorra, in its stronghold in the Naples district of Scampia, Hina reports, as relayed by the Patria News Agency. 

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected on Saturday on the streets of this very Catholic city. It will be a busy day for Francis, who will stop at nine locations and speak six times.

Security measures are exceptional, especially because the Pope will travel a total of 25 kilometers by car. According to local media, around 3,000 security forces, including snipers, will be deployed in and around Naples.

Although no specific threats have been received, there is a risk of jihadist attacks following the massacre in Tunisia or mafia revenge after the Pope's excommunication of mafiosi last year.

Francis will begin the day with a prayer in Pompeii, and then will arrive by helicopter to the poor district of Scampia, riddled with organized crime, where he will address the locals.

He will later hold an open-air mass in the famous Piazza del Plebiscito, the city's main square, and visit Poggioreale prison, where 2,500 inmates live in space intended for 1,400. He will have lunch with about ninety selected inmates. Among them will be homosexuals, transsexuals, and those with AIDS.