Pope Benedict has delivered an address before members of the world's largest international police organization, Interpol, condemning organized crime and calling for greater international cooperation to fight it.

In his speech Friday, the pope called terrorism “one of the most brutal forms of violence,” saying it “sows hate, death and a desire for revenge.”

The pope also denounced acts carried out by organized crime groups, saying the offenses transgress “moral barriers” and “reintroduce a form of barbarism which denies man and his dignity.”

Pope Benedict spoke in Rome to delegates in the Italian capital for the General Assembly of Interpol. The four-day-long gathering, which closed Thursday, brought together representatives from the group's 190 member states. Interpol includes the Vatican's “gendarme” security force, which joined in 2008.

This year's assembly, Interpol's 81st such meeting, closed with the election of the organization's first female president, Mireille Ballestrazzi, the inspector general of France's national police.

The meeting came as Italy battles organized crime groups, including the Sicilian Mafia, the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta and the Neapolitan Camorra.