Pope Benedict has warned Latin America's ruthless drugs cartels that they would face God's harsh judgment for wrecking countless lives across the region.
After hearing moving stories of hardship and recovery from former cocaine and heroin addicts on the fourth day of his visit to Brazil, the Pope said drug abuse was a scourge throughout Latin America.
"I therefore urge the drug dealers to reflect on the grave harm they are inflicting on countless young people and on adults from every level of society," he said in a speech to recovering addicts at the Farm of Hope (Fazenda da Esperanca) rehabilitation center in the rural town of Guaratingueta. "God will call you to account for your deeds. Human dignity cannot be trampled upon in this way," he said.
Thousands of followers sang and waved flags as the Pope, flanked by bodyguards, then walked through the crowd, smiling and shaking hands.
The drugs trade has caused havoc and bloodshed in Latin America, from Colombia, the world's main source of cocaine, to Brazil, where rival trafficking gangs control many slums.
Although the United States was long the key market, Latin American countries suffer from increasing addiction among their own youth, compounding the social woes of poverty and violence. Rival drug cartels in Mexico have killed about 800 people so far this year in brutal turf wars.
About one-in-four of the 6,000 people who heard the Pope's address on a sports field at the farm, nestled in a lush valley about 10 miles from the shrine city of Aparecida, were from various rehabilitation centers in Brazil.