Pope denounces "inhuman" mafia in southern Italy

Benedict made the comments while celebrating an open-air Mass in Lamezia Terme, in Calabria in the "toe" of boot-shaped Italy.

The region is home to the 'ndrangheta mob, which is today considered more powerful than the Sicilian Mafia and is one of the world's biggest cocaine traffickers. Calabria is also one of the poorest regions in Italy - it has a 12 percent unemployment rate compared with a national average of 7.9 percent, and a 39 percent jobless rate for people aged 15-24.

Benedict noted the region is seismic - "not just geologically but from the structural, behavioral and social point of view" - and said high unemployment and Calabria's "often inhuman criminality wounds the fabric of society."