Pope Francis joins the lynching outbreak debate in Argentina

Thursday, April 10th 2014 - 05:46 UTC

Full article 9 comments

“The worst that can happen to us is to forget about that scene,” the pontiff said.

In a letter addressed to two Argentine humanists living in Sweden, Pope Francis deeply regretted the murder of an 18-year-old who was beat to death by a group of Rosario citizens after he had allegedly stolen a woman’s purse. “The worst that can happen to us is to forget about that scene,” the pontiff said.

“I felt the kicking in my soul. He was no Martian, he was a young boy from our own people. I thought about Jesus; what would he say if he was the referee there? Let he who is without sin throw the first kick?” the Argentine pope wondered in his message.

“The scene hurt me. Everything hurt me. The young boy’s body hurt me, the heart of those kicking hurt me,” Francis added and called to “not forget” what happened.

By the end of March, David Moreira was attacked by a group of people in the city of Rosario in the province of Santa Fe that accused him of robbing a woman’s purse.

David’s is one in a series of mob attack cases that spread across the country over the past weeks with people deciding to take justice into their hands claiming they were fed up with criminals.

The cases prompted strong condemnation from the federal government and many opposition sectors with President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner publicly and personally affirming that the one way to battle crime is social inclusion.

However Buenos Aires province governor Daniel Scioli and a 2015 presidential hopeful declared a 12-month state of security emergency. The province is the largest, richest and has 35% of the country's electoral roll, including metropolitan Buenos Aires City but also some of the best farmland in the world.

Categories: Politics, Argentina, International.

Tags: Argentina, cases of lynching, Pope Francis.

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CabezaDura2
The Pope sent a condolence letter to the mother of a criminal that was killed in Rosario by a mob of citizens that had cried her face out in front o the cameras after her son had faced justice of the people. Yesterday she made national headlines again. Only in Argentina the mother of a criminal that should apologize to society for bringing to the world a criminal and failing to educate him gets coverage by the national media.

With all due respect I think his holiness should go and f*ck himself.
Apr 10th, 2014 - 12:58 pm 0
SebaSvtz
@ 1

I could not agree more with you, well said.
Apr 10th, 2014 - 01:10 pm 0
bushpilot
“and personally affirming that the one way to battle crime is social inclusion”

There have been ten years of “Victory” on the social inclusion front.

This would mean that crime problems have then gone down significantly in the past ten years, not up. Is there anything else lacking in the battle against crime?

Is it possible the police are being paid to do a job, and they are collecting their pay check, but not doing their job?
Apr 10th, 2014 - 01:34 pm 0

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