Pope Francis Plays Down Mafia ‘Hit’ Fears: Toddler Latest Victim of Italy Mob

The Vatican announced this week that Pope Francis was set to visit with victims of Italy’s Cosa Nostra. 

“For the families of innocent victims, this meeting with the Pope is a gift,” Fr. Luigi Ciotti expressed in a March 15 article on Vatican Radio.

The announcement was made just hours before a two-year old boy was murdered as part of an apparent Mafia hit that also took down the toddler’s father, a convicted killer released from prison, and his partner.

Italy's interior minister Angelino Alfano described the hit as a "settling of scores" and pledged all the necessary reinforcements to bring the killer or killers to justice.

In recent months there have been fears over a potential Mob hit on the Pope.

Last November, big name anti-mob prosecutor Nicola Gratteri was quoted as saying that Pope Francis’ reforms at the Vatican were “making the ‘Ndrangheta — the Calabrian mob — very nervous.”

The Vatican at the time downplayed any possibility that the Pope’s life would be in any danger.

The Sicilian Mafia in Italy dominate criminal enterprises pertaining to such things as gambling, prostitution and  even kidnapping.

Last month, US and Italian authorities broke up a new heroin-and cocaine-trafficking ring they allege is coordinated by Italy's powerful 'ndrangheta organized crime syndicate and New York City's Gambino crime family.