Around 15,000 people gathered in the Piazza Calipari in Acerra, Campania, to welcome Pope Leo XIV on Saturday, as he arrived to offer comfort to locals in the region known as the Terra dei Fuochi, or land of fires, a vast area in southern Italy devastated by decades of illegal dumping, burying and burning of waste.
The pontiff, greeted on his arrival by Undersecretary to the Prime Minister’s Office Alfredo Mantovano, chose to devote the first moments of the day to those left outside the Cathedral due to overcrowding, before moving inside.
Here, the Pope met with relatives of people who have lost their lives in the region, which has seen increased rates of cancer and pollution of groundwater.
“A short while ago, in the cathedral, I met some relatives of the victims of the pollution which, in recent decades, has sadly made this area known as the ‘Terra dei Fuochi’: an expression that does not do justice to the good that exists and endures, but which has certainly helped foster broad awareness of the seriousness of the criminal activity and the indifference that has left room for these crimes,” he said later.
Before leaving the Cathedral, the Pope called for a rethink of current economic and social models, urging those present to try to rediscover values centred on solidarity and respect for the land.
“Let us learn, then, to be rich in a different way: more attentive to relationships, more intent on fostering the common good, more attached to the local area, more grateful in welcoming and integrating those who come to live among us,” Pope Leo said.
He also made special mention of the need to overcome social marginalisation, saying the “name ‘Terra dei Fuochi’ refers to the fires lit on the edges of cities, sometimes by small, rejected and marginalised minorities of brothers and sisters whom few know or value.”
“Marginalisation always breeds insecurity: the steep path is to combat marginalisation, not the marginalised, to break the entire chain, not strike only its last link,” he continued. “You know this well”
The Pope then headed to the Piazza Calipari, the second and final stop on his trip.
Waiting for him there were the mayors of the 90 municipalities from the “Terra dei Fuochi,” together with thousands of citizens and representatives of environmental civic committees.
The Pope said his hope for local leaders and families was that the region’s “fires” might be transformed into a new spiritual and social energy.
“No longer a fire that destroys, but a fire that revives and warms, the fire of the Spirit that ignites the hearts and minds of thousands and thousands of men and women, of children and of the elderly, and inspires care, consolation, attentiveness and genuine love,” he said.
Giving voice to the pain and determination of the community were representatives of the church and local officials.
The bishop of Acerra, Monsignor Antonio Di Donna, retraced the territory’s decades-long ordeal, recalling with bitterness how only recently law-enforcement officers uncovered yet another illegal dumping of toxic waste in the Caserta area.
Immediately afterwards, the mayor of Acerra, Tito d’Errico, speaking on behalf of all the mayors present, highlighted the determination of the entire population to win back its future and thanked the national and regional authorities for their work.
“Ours is a complex territory, with deep wounds inflicted by wrongdoers who have served profit. We endure the suffering of pollution, the tragedy of the fires, and the pain of families. Wounds that call for justice, truth and care. Yet this is not a land of resignation, but of civic resistance and moral redemption, thirsting for profound change,” D’Errico said.
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