Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has said those who carry out gangland crime in Dublin's inner city are an insult to humanity.
Archbishop Martin urged more people throughout society to show neighbourly solidarity with the victims.
In a message he delivered to a commemorative service in Sean McDermott Street's parish church, Dr Martin said the criminals concerned are "without a conscience".
But he praised local women and men for standing up to the oppression with dignity and courage as they seek to establish a community of which their young people can be proud.
The parish church is where many of the 14 victims of the Hutch-Kinahan vendetta have been mourned, most recently at yesterday's funeral mass of Derek Coakley Hutch, the 27 year-old who was shot dead ten days ago in west Dublin.
Before the deceased could be brought to the church for that mass, his friend of the same age, Jason Molyneaux was shot dead around 1km away after paying his respects at the wake.
The Archbishop was invited to address the Annual Service of Commemoration and Hope by the National Family Support Network.
It is an autonomous self-help organisation that sets out to provide personalised services and accurate information to families affected by illegal drug abuse.
Archbishop Martin told the attendance that very few communities in Ireland have had visited on them the levels of brutal violence that Dublin's inner city community has witnessed right up to these days.
"I am running out of words adequate to express the horror and inhumanity and barbarism of people who have for years exploited the weakest through drug supply, through blackmail and debt, and who feel that they can keep an entire community in their grip through brutal violence," Dr Martin said.
"These are people without a conscience, an insult to humanity."
But he reminded them that this evening they are together as the other side of this community.
"(You are) women and men of whom this community should be proud. Women and men who have stood up with dignity and courage. Women and men who want a community of which their young people can be proud," he said.
"We are here with people who have had to mourn and face loss and suffer bereavement, but who were then prepared to help others in their grief.
"These are the people who show us what social conscience means. We are truly indebted to them for what they do and for what they stand for.
"What people in grief need are not words but support and understanding, a helping hand to support them, an arm to cry on, a place where they can share their story.
"The pain of losing a loved one never goes away. It may ease with time but equally it may well return with a vengeance. You know that better than I do."
He added: "Our society needs more people like those represented here tonight who become neighbours to those who are suffering oppression and violence and grief.
"We need to foster the old idea of good neighbourliness, as the real basis for community," Archbishop Martin said.
He also reminded his listeners that next August Dublin will host the Catholic Church's World Meeting of Families.
"It is my hope that on that occasion we will be able to share with visitors from around the world the great sense of caring neighbourliness of the families in this area,"
"They have never given in and never will give in to those who wish to impose death and violence to defend their own interests."
In the past Archbishop Martin, a long-time former resident of Rome, has praised Italian communities for resisting the Mafia oppressors who exploit them.
