Camille Naredo

Pope Leo XIV delivers his speech during the general audience in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican on August 27, 2025.

Pope Leo XIV delivers his speech during the general audience in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican on August 27, 2025. (Photo by Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP)

Article (news)

Pope Leo

Reuters Wires

Pope Leo on Saturday (May 23) called out companies who seek &quot;dizzying&quot; profits at the cost of environmental pollution, on a visit to an area in Italy known as a hotbed for illegal dumping of toxic waste.On a visit to Acerra, about 220 km (137 miles) south of Rome, the first U.S. pope urged the world to &quot;reject temptations of power and enrichment linked to practices that pollute the land, water, air, and social coexistence.&quot;Leo said he wanted to come to the area near Naples known as the &quot;Land of Fires,&quot; where the European Court of Human Rights ruled last year that authorities had failed to protect residents from waste dumping since at least 1988, to &quot;gather the tears&quot; of families who had lost loved ones to related illnesses.Arriving by popemobile in an outside square on a sunny spring day, Leo was greeted by people waving small yellow and white Vatican flags and wearing yellow hats, some holding up posterboards with pictures of family members who had died.Leo, who in recent months has been speaking more forcefully and will issue his first major document on Monday, said &quot;unscrupulous people and organizations have been allowed to act with impunity for too long.&quot;During his four-hour visit to Acerra, he also referred to &quot;the dizzying profits of a few, blind to the needs of people, their work and their future.&quot; He also met with victims.Leo will issue his first encyclical, a major text, to the world&#x27;s 1.4 billion Catholics, on Monday. It is expected to address the rise of AI and how the technology is being used in warfare and challenging workers&#x27; rights.<div>(Production: Claudia Chieppa)</div>

Pope Leo on Saturday called out companies who seek "dizzying" profits at the cost of environmental pollution, on a visit to an area in Italy known as a hotbed for illegal dumping of toxic waste.

Pope Leo on Saturday called out companies who seek "dizzying" profits at the cost of environmental pollution, on a visit to an area in Italy known as a hotbed for illegal dumping of toxic waste.

Pope Leo decries 'dizzying' profits earned by companies that pollute

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Pope Leo decries 'dizzying' profits earned by companies that pollute

Reuters

Published May 23, 2026 09:15 PM PHT

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