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The Italian mafia, which has a long history of connections to the Catholic Church, has been accused of "hijacking" the image of the Virgin Mary, or Madonna, to create a facade of moral and decent people.

Pope Francis has expressed support for the initiative proposed by the Vatican's Pontifical Marian Academy think tank that seeks to "liberate" the Virgin Mary from the influence of Italian criminal groups.

In a letter to the academy's president, Father Stefano Cecchin, the Pope called for freeing Madonna from "superstructures, powers or conditioning that does not correspond to the Gospel criteria of justice, liberty, honesty, and solidarity".

"[Madonna] must be preserved in its original purity", the Pope said, echoeing Fr Cecchin, who said that the Catholic Church must safeguard the religious and cultural heritage "in its original piety".