Pope Francis II supervised the full opening of St. Peter Cathedral in Rome today, Monday. The Catholic churches held masses for the first time in two months.
The Italian government has decided to relax restrictions imposed on public life over the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19).
The Pope led a mass at a chapel where his predecessor John Paul II buried to the 100th anniversary of birth of the late pope. St. Peter Cathedral was sterilized completely on Friday to reassure its cleanness of the deadly virus. Vicars will lead services later after the Pope left the cathedral.
Notices written in English and Italian languages were hung to ask attendants of the service to stay 1,5 meters away of each other, put on face masks and cleanse hands with lustant sprays.
Churches throughout Italy have started holding services within new strict frames approved by both the bishops and the government.
The church-goers must put on face masks but the priests could lead the service without covering the mouth. They must cover both the mouth and the hand when they conduct the rites of Eucharist ( also known as holy Communion). The clergymen must hand bread at the hand instead of putting it in the mouth.
The Pope urges the Italians to commit to the new criteria in order to maintain their health.
Despite the public lockdown, doors of St. Peter Cathedral has stayed open since March. Worshipers went there to pray privately. Only small numbers of the Italians and other Catholics went to the cathedral in the course of the two last months.
The Italian authorities prohibited crowds in the outer plazas of the main cathedrals to reduce the chances of the infection with the Coronavirus.
On the other hand, Italian prosecutors and local officials confirmed that the Mafia gangs in Italy are seeking to take advantage of the Coronavirus pandemic crisis to gain the loyalty of people by providing loans and food to poor families, especially in the southern districts and Sicily Island.
Federico Cafero de Rao, the national attorney general for the Mafia gangs, said that his team members had detected suspicious activities in the city of Naples.
The activities committed, by the Camorra Gangs, included the distribution of free food aid to families in financial crisis due to the general isolation measures.
De Rao explained that his team acquired evidence but he did not elaborate, saying that investigations into this matter are continuing, adding that the Camorra Gangs know that this is the right time to invest in.
In turn, Antonio Loccidi, an employee for the Ultra Latera Napoli (other Napoli), said that this institution collected more than 150,000 euros to deliver food to needy families so that they would not accept gang gifts during the general isolation procedures.
He said that when hunger becomes a real problem, it is difficult to resist the temptation.
Amedeo Scaramella, an Italian lawyer, said we know that the so-called families of friends, all of them money-lenders, provide financial loans to people who face difficulties.
Scaramella explained that the moneylenders (usurers) initially offered loans with interest to compete with banks, then surrounded the borrower and raised the interest to 300 percent.
Previous experiences indicate that gangsters may demand the return of favour by requiring those receiving aid to carry out criminal activities, including drug transport. This practice is seen as a long-standing recruitment method.
Officials believe that public isolation measures have hurt the economic activities of the Mafia gangs because they have limited their mobility across the various parts of Italy.
In this context, the governor of the South Apulia region, Michael Emiliano, a former judge, said the collapse of the drug trade is causing great harm to the mobs.
Italy is stronghold of the mobs who leapt to the other coast of the Atlantic Ocean where they mushroomed in the USA
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