Twenty-five years after the murder of the Italian priest by the Sicilian mafia Cosa Nostra, Pope Francis in Palermo urged the mafia of the city to repent of their bloody deeds.
“Change, brothers and sisters! Stop thinking about yourself and your money … Join the real God, Jesus Christ, ” he said to the thousands of people gathered to take part in the mass at the port of Palermo. – Representatives of the mafia, if you do not, your life will be lost, and it will be your biggest defeat,” said the Pope. It is reported by OCCRP.
In the open air, Pope Francis honored father Pinot Puglisi, a priest from Palermo who was killed on September 14, 1993. Puglisi worked to thwart mafia activities in Palermo, encouraging young people from poor areas to seek alternatives to working for local faction leaders and to promote an “anti-mafia culture”.
He was shot in the neck in the Brancaccio area of Palermo. Italian investigators quickly described the murder as a crime of the mafia.
“Cosa Nostra could not stand that the priest teaches children in the neighborhood in relation to anti-mafia culture,” – said the New Tork Times investigator Lorenzo Matassa.
Pope Francis described in detail how the mafia of Sicily harms society: “the Wounds that upset you, a lot, and they have a name: social and cultural underdevelopment, exploitation of workers and the lack of decent work for young people.”
