The list of new Causes has been released by the Congregation for Causes of Saints, this month five new Causes have been introduced and now await the Nihil Obstat. Many the five candidates is an Italian priest, Don Giuseppe Diana, affectionately known as Don Peppino. He was murdered in 1994 by the Camorra, the Neapolitan version of the mafia. You will remember that Don Pino Puglisi was beatified a couple of years ago, he had been martyred by the mafia out of hatred for his faith.
Don Peppino was parish priest of Casal di Principe, about 25 kilometres from Naples. He was working with immigrants, trying to prevent them becoming fodder for the Camorra. He spoke out against the mafia a number of times - he went as far as to refuse them the sacraments and marry them. For his stance and public denunciations they killed him on the 19th March 1994 as he was preparing to offer Mass for the Solemnity of his patron, St Joseph.
Heroic priests like Don Peppino are a marvellous example for us in these times, particularly for our priests. He proclaimed the truth even when his enemies populated the corridors of power. Like Jesus he paid with his life, but his voice is stronger now that ever. May he pray for us and let's hope his Cause will reach a successful conclusion soon.
The Holy Father's condemnation of the Mafia has had considerable coverage around the world. As you all know Pope Francis said that those in the Mafia were not in communion with God, but excommunicated. Strong words rightly expressed at demonic organisations that have had too much power and influence in Italy and beyond for far too long. There are some questions which are being asked.
The first: can the Pope excommunicate an organisation? Yes and no. An organisation is not a person so it cannot be excommunicated, although it can be proscribed, condemned and shown to be operating in opposition to God and his teachings. However members of an organisation can be excommunicated for being members of that organisation simply by joining it. The best example of this is that of the Freemasons - once a Catholic joined the Freemasons they incurred an automatic excommunication.
The second: are the members of the Mafia now formally excommunicated? Well, that's a question for the canon lawyers, but it seems to me that they are not formally excommunicated because the Holy Father has not (yet) issued a formal decree proscribing the Mafia and placing an automatic excommunication on those who join it or cooperate with it. The Holy Father was given an exhortation and in it he was condemning the Ndrangheta and telling its members that they have broken communion with God and the Church through their activities.
Concerns have now been expressed for the safety of the Holy Father: will the Mafia retaliate? There is a possibility that they will, but I do not think they will attack the person of the Pope, such an action would probably lead to serious tensions with the ordinary people who tolerate or turn a blind eye to their activities but whose silence protects the mafiosi. To kill a popular Pope like Francis could have nightmare consequences for the killers.
That said, we cannot rule out some sort of retaliation: denunciations and condemnations by previous Pontiffs were greeted with revenge attacks including a bomb in St John Lateran's. Pressure might also be applied to local bishops and priests. The Mafia cherish honour and for the Pope to publicly offend that honour will have touched a raw nerve. The Mafia also like to use the local church as a means of maintaining respectability within a community - the Pope has undermined that, and perhaps he has even sent a message to priests and bishops who out of fear facilitate the mafiosi - it has to stop. The mafiosi are very careful and calculating, so they will weigh up very cautiously how they will respond.
Pope Francis has shown great courage in saying what he said, many bishops and priests would have avoided such a naked denunciation on the grounds of prudence, but Francis knows that as universal pastor he has to speak out against this evil and dainty words don't quite hit the target. He is not the first to do so. St John Paul II was even more forthright in his condemnation of the Mafia. During his visit to Sicily following the murder, now martyrdom, of the Palermo priest Blessed Pino Puglisi, St John Paul went out with all guns blazing. See the video below for part of his condemnation. Notice Archbishop Marini, the Papal MC, he looks like he's having a stroke with anxiety as the Pope rails against the Mafia. Papal officials were terrified during and following St John Paul's condemnation, they were convinced they would be slaughtered before they left Sicily.
In a similar vein Pope Benedict launched a stinging attack on South American drug dealers during his visit to Brazil in 2007. People were stunned that quiet, mild Benedict should attack such powerful and vindictive forces in their own backyard. Again as the defender of the flock Benedict had to speak up.
These are three examples of Papal heroism in the face of great evil at work in the world. The shepherds defending the flock of Christ from the wolves. As the flock we must pray for these heroic shepherds, so we must keep Pope Francis in our prayers that the Lord may protect him, and then watch over all those who live under the shadow of the Mafia and similar evil organisations. I would urge you to invoke our new martyr, Blessed Pino Puglisi, a faithful priest who was martyred by the Mafia. They tried to silence him, to stop his work, but instead their killing him led him to a crown of glory and have given the Church a powerful intercessor. So let us commend the Holy Father into Blessed Pino's care. See my pieces on Blessed Pino here and here.
In 2005 a movie detailing the life of Blessed Pino Puglisi, Alla Luce Del Sole (To The Light Of The Sun) was released in Italy. I am embedding the first in a series of extracts - one will lead to another if you want to watch it. Be warned, it is gritty, as one would expect. It will offer you a good insight into what Blessed Pino had to deal with.
We sometimes forget that Saints were real people dealing with real problems - their sanctification is the triumph of grace. One way of imagining the lives of the Saints is to see them facing life as we face it, but making better decisions than us, enduring with greater patience and trusting in God in a deeper way.
Here's the movie. Sit back and watch - it is Sunday, so you shouldn't be working. Spend some of today with our new Blessed, and as you do ask him to pray for us poor priests who so often fall.
I have ordered a copy of the movie and so hope to show it at the Dublin Film Club in the autumn. Our next film, on the 18th June is Blood Money, a film on the abortion industry. We then take a break until September. Thanks to all who support the club.
When I was serving in a parish in the US as a seminarian, I remember one evening the pastor called me to go out for a drive. I gladly went - these little trips usually ended up meeting interesting people or visiting interesting places. Normally the pastor told me where we were going, but on that evening he simply said, "Wait and see".
We headed to the outskirts of the parish and travelling down one of the boulevards we suddenly turned left into a road through a wooded area. About half a mile down the road the woods yielded to manicured lawns, designer gardens and a small estate of little mansions with luxurious cars parked outside.
"You know who lives here?" the pastor asked.
I knew: "The mob?"
"Exactly."
"Are they your parishioners?"
"Oh yeh!"
Later that evening I asked the pastor if they ever came to church. "Only for baptisms, weddings and funerals. And First Communions and Confirmations of course!"
Of course. It fits a pattern.
"How do you feel when you see them arriving in looking for these ceremonies?" I asked.
"Used."
We all know about the mafia, their crimes, their rackets and their strange attachment to their ancestral faith, Catholicism - a faith whose teachings they regularly breach as they pursue their unique line of business. They are one of the extremes of those who claim to be Catholic but yet disregard the teachings of the Church and are involved in some of the most horrendous crimes.
For decades the Church has been involved in a conflict with the mob, although some of her ministers have found themselves becoming almost unofficial chaplains to the mafia, for "pastoral reasons". That conflict is, for intents and purposes, a war, and in that war individual priests have been murdered by fellow Catholics who believe that what they doing is right and the Church should just accept it as "business" and "nothing personal".
Today in Palermo the Church made a very strong statement about the mafia and its line of business. With the beatification of a Sicilian priest who opposed the mafia and was murdered for his work, the Church has declared that this priest killed by fellow, unfaithful and murderous Catholics, was a martyr and he has been granted the honours of glorification in the sight of God for his heroic witness. Today the Church celebrates with joy the heroic witness of Blessed Pino Puglisi, a diocesan priest martyred because he preached the Gospel of life and love to fellow Catholics and they took offence and wanted him out of the way.
Blessed Pino was a popular priest in Palermo. Born in 1937 into a working class family, he knew all about poverty, need and injustice. He discerned a vocation to the priesthood at an early age and he entered seminary at the age of 16, being ordained a priest for the diocese of Palermo on the 2nd July 1960. He was assigned to various parishes and there among other problems he had to deal with the Sicilian curse of the vendetta. He reminded his flock of the importance of living the Christian faith in its fullness, not picking and choosing those doctrines which suit us and disregarding others. The vendetta had nothing to do with Christianity, and Christians should have nothing to do with the vendetta.
But Don Pino recognised a greater danger than the vendetta - the mafia. At the time his own bishop considered communism a greater problem in Sicily, but Don Pino did not agree - the mafia was a bigger problem - its influence on the island far surpassed that of the communists. At times he came to blows with his bishop and the local church over this issue, but in all of his criticism he reminded people that he loved the Church and he was trying to draw her attention to a problem which needed to be addressed. His stance did not alienate him, he was well respected by his superiors and fellow priests, and entrusted with important pastoral appointments, among them vice-rector of the seminary and vocations director.
In 1990 he was appointed as pastor of an inner city parish in Palermo, San Gaetano in Brancaccio, a parish which was difficult. He had been offered other, more peaceful parishes, but he turned them down. In San Gaetano he was now on the frontline in the battle against the mafia. His parishioners lived in fear of the mafia which had a hold on the people and businesses of the area. Don Pino threw himself into a mission to undermine this hold. He set up projects for young people to keep them from coming under the influence of the dons. He preached against the mafia, pleading with the local authorities to stand up to the criminality which was filling the coffers of the mob. He challenged the silence of the local people. In this mission it has to be said he received very little support from the archdiocese - he was on his own.
At first the mafia tried to bring him round. They turned up for the local feast days and tried to be generous to Don Pino and his parish, offering money as a peace offering: Don Pino refused it. When the heads of the mafia wanted their traditional places of honour leading the festival processions, Don Pino would not allow them to walk in the procession - to do so would be seen as a sign of approval. When work needed to be done in the parish and certain firms were "suggested" by the mafia, he refused to consider these firms and engaged others.
It soon became clear that Don Pino was not going to be turned, not even recourse to "pastoral sensitivity" persuaded the dynamic pastor to give an inch. He began to receive threats, at first subtle, but soon becoming more threatening. Parishioners who supported the priest and helped him in his mission were targeted and harassed.
On the 15 September 1993, at 8.45 in the evening as he was standing on the steps of his church, he was gunned down: his killing had been ordered by mafia bosses, brothers Filippo and Giuseppi Graviano. The gunmen had simply walked up to priest. As he turned to them, Don Pino said, "I have been expecting you." He was shot at point-blank range. Unconscious, he was taken to hospital where he died. It was his 56th birthday. His murder sent shockwaves throughout Italy. Although it was obvious that the mafia killed him, people were still afraid to apportion blame: even at the priest's funeral the Cardinal of Palermo avoided any question of the mafia being suspects. However, people were not prepared to let this crime, and soon enough his killers were arrested, tried and convicted; today they are serving life sentences, among them the Graviano brothers who ordered his death.
Blessed Pino was a heroic priest. He preached the Gospel of life even to leaders in the Church who were afraid to speak out against sin and injustice. He teaches us that we must face down evil, see it for what it is and not try and convince ourselves that we can cooperate with it for "pastoral reasons". He faced evil with courage and love and he paid the ultimate price. As is obvious from his death he was not afraid to shed his blood in the battle against evil, and in this he offers all priests an example of true pastoral ministry: not fear, not justification, not avoiding the issue: but living and speaking boldly and laying down one's life.
He teaches us priests not to be afraid to preach the Gospel even when people oppose us: to proclaim the truth is to love.
Here is a video about Blessed Pino, it's in Italian, but there are a few snippets of him speaking. His feast day will be the 21st October.
Among the decrees approved by the Holy Father last week, as the Venerable Fulton Sheen took the limelight, another great witness to faith was recognised: Fr Pino Puglisi. Fr Pino was murdered in 1993 by the Mafia in Sicily - his murder has been recognised as martyrdom by the Church and, I am open to correction on this, he will become the first victim of the Mafia to be beatified.
Fr Pino was born in Palermo, Sicily, on the 15th September 1937. Entering the seminary in 1953 he was ordained priest in 1960. He was appointed as curate to a couple of parishes, was chaplain to a congregation of sisters, and worked as a teacher. He had a particular charism for working with young people.
At this time the Second Vatican Council was in full swing, and Fr Pino took a great interest in the proceedings. Like Karol Wojtyla in Krakow, he made sure that the people in his care received the documents from the Council and were informed as to what was really going on, as opposed to the emergence of the "spirit of Vatican II interpretation".
In 1970 he was appointed pastor of a small village, Godrano, a village torn apart by vendettas. In the eight years he served there he managed to bring warring families together and, by the time he left, reconciliation and peace had been restored. He worked with a number of movements in the Church including Catholic Action, Teams of Our Lady, and groups working for peace and civil rights in the face of Mafia dominance.
In 1990 he was appointed pastor of San Gaetano in Brancaccio, and here his work with the victims of the Mafia intensified. He denounced the crimes of the Mafia and the collusion between politicians and the Mafia. He was soon receiving threats and intimidations as the Mafia tried to silence him. He refused to browbeaten. On the 15th September 1993, his 56th birthday, Fr Pino was killed by the Mafia in his rectory. His killers were eventually found, put on trial and convicted; it emerged that the priest's ministry was the motivation for the killing.
Fr Pino's death was seen as a martyrdom by the people of Sicily. His Cause was opened in 1999, and last week Pope Benedict formally recognised him as a martyr. We await the announcement of the date of his beatification.
Here's a video of a brief interview with Fr Pino in Italian:
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