Pope's message in Naples: A corrupt Christian stinks like a dead animal

Pope Francis today in Naples condemned high unemployment, exploitation of workers, corruption and the rejection of immigrants, and called on mafia members to convert, international agencies report.

Addressing directly members of the local Camorra mafia, the Pope condemned drug trafficking and called for "conversion to love and justice", reports the Patria news agency. 

"It is always possible to return to an honest life. That is what weeping mothers in the churches of Naples ask for," he said at Mass in the central Piazza del Plebiscito before nearly one hundred thousand faithful, under heavy security measures.

The Pope called on Naples to live a new "spring" for a "better future" and "not to hide in the past".

Earlier, the Pope visited the notorious mafia district of Scampia, where even the police sometimes fear to enter, delivering a message of hope to its residents.

"Just as a dead animal stinks, so do corruption, a corrupt society and a corrupt Christian stink," he said before several thousand faithful.

"Make sure that evil does not have the last word. The last word must be hope," he stressed.

"Those who voluntarily choose the path of evil steal a piece of hope. They steal it from themselves and from everyone else, from society, from many honest and hardworking people, from the good name of the city."