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Papa: "Chi crede alla pace viene ridicolizzato, spinto fuori da discorso pubblico"

Papa: "Chi crede alla pace viene ridicolizzato, spinto fuori da discorso pubblico"

Durante l'Angelus di oggi, in occasione della festa di santo Stefano, Papa Leone XIV ha ricordato l'esempio del primo martire del cristianesimo, che ha anteponendo la pace e i poveri alla paura ed all'egoismo. Dalla finestra dello studio privato del Palazzo Apostolico Vaticano il Papa nel rivolgersi ai fedeli presenti in piazza San Pietro si è soffermato sulla figura di Santo Stefano, che con coraggio diede la vita come primo testimone della fede cristiana, per garantire che ancora oggi "dovunque nel mondo c'è chi sceglie la giustizia anche se costa, chi antepone la pace alle proprie paure, chi serve i poveri invece di sé stesso". Uno stile, questo, ispirato alla "nascita fra noi del Figlio di Dio", che "chiama alla vita di figli di Dio". Solo che "quella di Gesù e di chi vive come Lui" è "una bellezza respinta": la sua "forza calamitante", infatti, ha fin dall'inizio suscitato "la reazione di chi teme per il proprio potere, di chi è smascherato nella sua ingiustizia da una bontà che rivela i pensieri dei cuori". Fino a oggi, però, nessuna potenza è in grado di "prevalere sull'opera di Dio". Tanto che c'è chi fa scelte scomode e costose, anteponendo gli altri al proprio egoismo: ecco, dice il Pontefice, che "germoglia allora la speranza, e ha senso fare festa malgrado tutto". E se nelle condizioni di "incertezza" e "sofferenza" del mondo attuale la gioia "sembrerebbe impossibile", chi oggi "crede alla pace" e sceglie "la via disarmata di Gesù e dei martiri" si ritrova spesso "ridicolizzato, spinto fuori dal discorso pubblico e non di rado accusato di favorire avversari e nemici". Eppure esiste un dettaglio non da poco: il cristiano "non ha nemici", ma "fratelli e sorelle, che rimangono tali anche quando non ci si comprende".

Giulia Tofana and the Poison Trade That Terrified Baroque Italy

Giulia Tofana and the Poison Trade That Terrified Baroque Italy

Giulia Tofana: Inside the Poison Network That Shocked 17th-Century Italy In the history of European crime, few names are as unsettling as Giulia Tofana. Active in southern Italy and Rome in the mid-1600s, Tofana became infamous as the alleged mastermind behind Aqua Tofana, a poison linked to dozens, possibly hundreds, of deaths. Her story sits at the intersection of crime, gender, and power in early modern Italy. A discreet poison with deadly consequences Aqua Tofana was described by contemporary sources as a colourless, tasteless liquid that could be administered in small doses over time. Its effects mimicked natural illness, making detection difficult in an era without modern forensic science. According to court records and later chronicles, the poison was sold primarily to women seeking to kill their husbands. Historians still debate whether Tofana herself invented the formula. What is clearer is that her name became shorthand for the substance, suggesting a central role in its distribution and notoriety. A network hidden in plain sight Rather than operating alone, Tofana allegedly ran a small network of women in Naples, Palermo and Rome. Some sources describe the operation as semi-clandestine but socially embedded, with poison sometimes disguised as cosmetics or devotional items. The clients, according to trial testimonies, were mostly married women with limited legal recourse. Divorce was virtually impossible, and women had few protections against violent or coercive husbands. For some, poison became a grim form of escape. Authorities later claimed that more than 600 men died as a result of Aqua Tofana. That figure is widely considered exaggerated, but even conservative estimates suggest the scale was significant. Arrest and execution The operation unraveled in 1659, when a woman reportedly confessed to poisoning her husband and identified Tofana as her supplier. Tofana was arrested in Rome, tried, and publicly executed by hanging. As with many early modern trials, the records are incomplete and shaped by confession, coercion and moral panic. Still, her execution marked the end of what authorities described as one of the most dangerous poison networks of the period. Between myth and history Over time, Giulia Tofana’s story has drifted into legend. She has been portrayed as everything from a cold-blooded serial killer to a proto-feminist figure operating in a brutally unequal society. Most historians today reject these extremes, instead viewing her as a criminal actor shaped by the rigid social structures of her time. What remains undeniable is the fear her name inspired. For centuries, Aqua Tofana lingered in the European imagination as a symbol of invisible, domestic danger—proof that some of the most lethal threats in history were not fought on battlefields, but slipped quietly into a glass of wine. Giulia Tofana’s legacy endures not because of what she represented, but because of what her story reveals: how power, desperation and secrecy can combine to deadly effect, especially when justice and choice are in short supply.