Pope Leo XIV made a visit on Saturday to Italy's "Land of Fires", where for decades the mafia has illegally dumped and burned toxic rubbish, poisoning both people and their land.
Hazardous waste -- often from Italy's wealthy north -- has long been set alight or buried in the area around Acerra, a city near Naples, in the southern region of Campania.
For decades, the soil, groundwater and air have been contaminated by heavy metals, dioxins and asbestos.
Cancer rates among the area's three million or so residents are higher than the national average.
Leo condemned "a deadly mix of obscure interests and indifference toward the common good, which has poisoned the natural and social environment".
