“Father Puglisi was not a typical anti-Mafia priest. He did not organize rallies or make public condemnation of Mafia,” Archbishop Michele Pennisi of Monreale told the National Catholic Register in 2013. “[The] Mafia does not see that kind of priest as dangerous.”
Puglisi was considered to be more dangerous “because he educated young people,” Pennisi said. He would convince the boys of the neighborhood not to steal or quit school and encouraged them away from the Mafia, who would often use children to traffic drugs and other illicit materials.
Puglisi preached against the Mafia, banned them from leading religious processions, and even stealthily gave clues to the authorities about their latest activities in his homilies. It was revealed after his death that his life had been threatened numerous times.
On Sept. 15, 1993, Puglisi was apprehended on the street and shot in the neck at point-blank range by hitmen directed by the local Mafia bosses Filippo and Giuseppe Graviano. He died of his injuries.
One of the hitmen, who later confessed to the crime, revealed that the priest’s final words were: “I’ve been expecting you.”
Puglisi was declared a martyr by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012 and beatified in 2013.
Pope Francis visited Puglisi’s former Palermo parish in 2018 to mark the 25th anniversary of the blessed’s assassination.
“May the disarming smile of Father Pino Puglisi spur you to be joyful and bold disciples, available first of all to that constant inner conversion that makes you more ready to serve your brothers and sisters, faithful to your priestly promises and docile in obedience to the Church,” Pope Francis said in his letter to priests for the 30th anniversary of Puglisi’s death.
“You,” he said, “who daily uphold the responsibilities of priestly ministry in contact with the realities that inhabit this territory, be always and everywhere a true image of the welcoming Good Shepherd, have the courage to dare without fear and instill hope in those you meet, especially the weakest, the sick, the suffering, the migrants, those who have fallen and want to be helped to rise again.”
“Young people will then be the focus of your care: They are the hope of the future.”
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Hannah Brockhaus is Catholic News Agency’s senior Rome correspondent. She grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and has a degree in English from Truman State University in Missouri.