Pope Francis will later this year visit the neighbourhood and parish connected with a Sicilian priest killed by the Mafia in 1993, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the death of the 'First Martyr of the Mafia'.
Having quietly tackled the Mafia through the education of young people, Fr Giuseppe 'Pino' Puglisi was assassinated by hit-men on September 15, 1993, his 53rd birthday.
Pope Francis will fly on September 15 to Piazza Armerina where he will greet authorities and the local bishop and meet with the faithful, the Catholic News Agency (CNA) reported.
He will then, having transferred to Palermo by helicopter, celebrate mass in memory of Puglisi and visit the Mission of Hope and Charity to take lunch with guests of the mission and a group of prisoners and immigrants.
The pope will also make private stops at Puglisi's home and parish, San Gaetano, in the Brancaccio neighborhood of Palermo, before also meeting with priests, religious, and seminarians and later with youth, before returning to Rome.
Born on September 15, 1937, to a modest, working-class family in Palermo, Puglisi entered the seminary at the age of 16 and was ordained a priest in 1960 at the age of 22.
The CNA noted that troughout his priesthood, Puglisi was known for being outspoken against injustices including communism, the Mafia, and problems within the Church.
In 1990, he was transferred to the parish of San Gaetano, in a mob-ridden neighborhood.
'Father Puglisi was not a typical anti-Mafia priest. He did not organise 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.'
Archbishop Pennisi said that Puglisi would convince youth not to steal or quit school, and encouraged them away from the Mafia, who would regularly use children to help them traffic drugs and other illicit materials.
According to the CNA, Puglisi often preached against the Mafia, ignored their threats, banned them from leading religious processions and even stealthily gave clues to the authorities about their latest activities in his sermons. As a result, he was threatened by the mob numerous times. This was reportedly not known to those closest to him until after his death.
On September 15, 1993, Puglisi was shot in the neck at point-blank range by hitmen under the direction of local Mafia bosses, Filippo and Giuseppe Graviano.
Puglisi died of his injuries after being taken to hopsital.
'This is a Mafia crime,' Lorenzo Matassa, an investigating magistrate with anti-Mafia experience, told the New York Times in 1993. 'Cosa Nostra could not stand that priest's teaching the kids in the neighbourhood about an anti-Mafia culture.'
One of the hitmen, Salvatore Grigoli, later confessed and revealed that the martyr's final words were, 'I've been expecting you'.
According to the CNA, his martyrdom further galvanized the Catholic Church in Sicily to act and speak out against the mob and five years after his death four Mafia members received life sentences for their involvement in the murder.
Puglisi was declared a martyr by Benedict XVI in 2012 and beatified in 2013. He is buried in the cemetery of Sant'Orsola in Palermo.
Pope Francis spoke about Puglisi the day after his beatification, calling him a 'martyr' and an 'exemplary priest'.
The pope said that in the end it was Puglisi 'who won, with the Risen Christ'.
Francis said of the Mafia: 'Let us pray to the Lord to convert the heart of these people...They cannot do this! They cannot make slaves of us, brothers and sisters!'
The pope added: 'We must pray that these members of the Mafia be converted to God and let us praise God for the luminous witness borne by Fr Giuseppe Puglisi.'
