Pope Francis made another bold step, holding an open-air mass in a town known to be the home of Italy’s most ruthless mafia organization and saying their members are now excommunicated from the Catholic Church.

“Those who in their lives follow this path of evil, as mafiosi do, are not in communion with God. They are excommunicated,” the Pope said.  “This evil must be fought against, it must be pushed aside. We must say no to it.”

The Pope had traveled to the southern region of Calabria to comfort the family of a 3-year-old boy who along with his grandparents was gunned down by mafia members in a shootout.  Pope Francis visited the boy’s father in prison and tried to help him find peace over his son’s death.

“May children never again have to suffer in this way,” the Pope told him.

The mafia is known to be very religious despite their criminal activities and have given large amounts of money to Catholic Church activities and charities in the past. Anti-mafia prosecutors in Italy say until Pope Francis, many of the mafia laundered money through Catholic organizations.