Pope Leo Condemns Toxic Profits at Italy’s Poisoned Land of Fires
Pope Leo XIV visited Acerra, Italy on Saturday, May 23, to condemn what he called the “dizzying profits” of companies that pollute, speaking directly to families who have lost loved ones to cancers linked to decades of illegal toxic waste dumping. The first U.S. pope urged the world to “reject temptations of power and enrichment linked to practices that pollute the land, water, air, and social coexistence,” in a visit to the area near Naples known as the Land of Fires, approximately 220 kilometres south of Rome. The four-hour visit was the most pointed public statement on environmental crime made by a reigning pontiff in decades. Free Malaysia Today
What the Pope Said — and Where He Said It
Arriving by popemobile in an open square on a sunny spring morning, Leo was greeted by people waving small yellow and white Vatican flags and wearing yellow hats, some holding posterboards with pictures of family members who had died. WHBL
His words from the pulpit left little ambiguity. “Unscrupulous people and organisations have been allowed to act with impunity for too long,” he said. He also referred to “the dizzying profits of a few, blind to the needs of people, their work and their future.” WHBL
Leo said he wanted to come to the area to “gather the tears” of families who had lost loved ones to illnesses related to the dumping. He later met with victims inside the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta. WHBL
The Land of Fires: Decades of Organised Crime and Poison
The area Pope Leo chose is no accident. Acerra sits in the southern Italian region of Campania, where hazardous waste — often from the wealthy north — has long been set alight or buried. For decades, the soil, groundwater, and air have been contaminated by heavy metals, dioxins, and asbestos. Cancer rates among the area’s approximately three million residents are higher than the national average. Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha
For years, the collection, treatment, and disposal of garbage in southern Italy was largely in the hands of a small group of private owners, with contracts sometimes tied to the Camorra, a mafia group based around Naples. The area is known by two names that speak to its grim reality: the Land of Fires, for the burning of toxic waste, and the Triangle of Death, for what that burning has done to the people who live there. WHBL
Cancer rates are higher than average across the territory, linked directly to the dumping, burning, and burying of toxic waste — the lucrative business of organised crime groups operating in the region. Catholic World Report
A Court Ruling and a Government Response
In January 2025, the European Court of Human Rights found that Italian authorities had repeatedly failed to act to stop illegal dumping in the Triangle of Death, and gave the Italian government two years to establish a comprehensive database of toxic waste sites and communicate the risks to the public. WHBL
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in February 2025 appointed an Italian general to head a task force aimed at helping victims and pursuing environmental clean-up. Whether that task force has made meaningful progress on the ground has not been confirmed by the Italian government as of Saturday. WHBL
The visit also coincided with the 11th anniversary of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’s landmark 2015 climate encyclical. That document, which denounced mankind’s ruthless exploitation of the environment, was hailed by experts for its scientific grounding. Leo’s presence in Acerra on that anniversary was deliberate, according to Vatican officials. Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha
A Pontiff Becoming More Forceful
Leo, who in recent months has been speaking more forcefully, is set to issue his first encyclical — a major teaching document — to the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics on Monday, May 25. WHBL
That document, titled Magnifica Humanitas — Latin for “Magnificent Humanity” — will address a different but related theme. Its full title is Magnifica Humanitas: On the Protection of Human Dignity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, and it is expected to provide moral guidance on the digital revolution and emerging technologies. National Catholic Register
The encyclical was signed by Pope Leo XIV on May 15, the 135th anniversary of Rerum Novarum, the landmark 1891 social encyclical of Pope Leo XIII that addressed workers’ rights and the social consequences of the Industrial Revolution. By choosing that date, the current pope drew a direct line between 19th-century industrial exploitation and today’s technological and environmental crises. Catholic Connnect
Pope Leo XIV will personally present the encyclical alongside Christopher Olah, co-founder of Anthropic, the AI research company recently thrust into a public clash with the Trump administration over the use of its models in military and surveillance contexts. National Catholic Reporter
Leo, who has made AI a priority of his young pontificate, is greatly concerned about AI in warfare and has called for monitoring of how the technology is used. PBS
Regional and Global Impact
Saturday’s visit carries weight far beyond Campania. By travelling to one of Italy’s most contaminated and neglected regions, Pope Leo gave international visibility to an environmental and public health crisis that Italian authorities have repeatedly failed to resolve despite decades of public pressure and legal proceedings.
As Father James Martin, SJ, consultor to the Dicastery for Communication, noted in commentary about the forthcoming encyclical: “Like Laudato Si’, which recast the issue of climate change as not simply a scientific and social one, but a spiritual one, Magnifica Humanitas may do the same” for the AI age. Saturday’s Acerra visit signalled that the environmental dimension of that moral framework is live and active — not waiting for Monday’s document. The B.C. Catholic
Background
Italy’s Land of Fires has served as a dump and illegal incineration site since the late 1980s. Pope Leo XIV, born in the United States, was elected to the papacy in 2025, becoming the first American to lead the Roman Catholic Church. Leo has made AI a priority of his young pontificate and has cited Rerum Novarum in relation to the AI revolution, which he believes poses the same existential questions that the Industrial Revolution posed over a century ago. The European Court of Human Rights ruling in January 2025 was the first time Europe’s top rights court formally found Italy in violation of its obligations to protect residents from mafia-linked environmental damage dating back to at least 1988. Italy has two years from that ruling to comply with the court’s remedial orders. Bangladesh Sangbad SangsthaPBS
What Happens Next
Pope Leo XIV will present Magnifica Humanitas in the Vatican’s Synod Hall at 11:30 a.m. Rome time on Monday, May 25, with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin offering concluding remarks. Speakers at the presentation will include Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; Cardinal Michael Czerny; Anna Rowlands, professor of ethics and political theology at the University of Durham; and Christopher Olah, co-founder of Anthropic. On the Italian government’s obligations in Acerra, the court-ordered two-year deadline for Italy to establish a comprehensive toxic waste database runs until January 2027, leaving the Meloni government’s task force roughly seven months to demonstrate measurable progress before a formal deadline falls due. National Catholic Register + 2
