«I expected that»… With a smile on his lips, the 15 September of the 1993, Don Pino Puglisi he calmly accepted his death at the hands of the mafia. It was once said that the mafia did not kill priests, but with Pino Puglisi it was different. The parish priest, executed on his evening 56esimo birthday in front of the door of the house in piazzale Anita Garibaldi (in the district Brancaccio di Palermo), he was in fact an uncomfortable character, someone to be eliminated. Don Puglisi's main fault was that of wanting remove young people from the streets, from the mafia environment and direct them towards a better future. The mafia did not accept this affront and, with a gunshot to the back of the head inflicted by Salvatore Grigoli (at the behest of the Graviano brothers, boss of Brancaccio), he decided to end the life of a brave and innocent man who had dedicated his whole life to young people.
Don Pino Puglisi's commitment to young people
Born in Brancaccio in 1937, the son of a shoemaker and a seamstress, Giuseppe Puglisi entered the Archiepiscopal Seminary of Palermo at the age of 16 years. In 1960 he was ordained a priest and, two years later, he became rector of the church of St. John of the Lepers in the neighborhood Seven cannoli of Palermo. In 1963 he was chaplain at theRoosevelt orphanage and vicar in the parish of Waldenses. These are the years in which the priest began to take an active interest in the problems of young people. In the 1970 he was appointed parish priest of Godrano, a town in the province of Palermo, plagued by a feud between two mafia gangs. Thanks to his commitment, the two families managed to make peace. He remained in Godrano until 1978.
In addition to his priestly vocation, Puglisi worked as teacher in different schools of Palermo, getting closer to young people and learning about their world. Pino Puglisi was also actively involved in animating various movements in Sicily, such as theCatholic action. In 1990 worked in favor of young women and single mothers in difficulty at the "Madonna dell'Accoglienza House"Dell 'Work pious Cardinal Ruffini.
The anti-mafia parish priest
In the autumn of the same year he was appointed parish priest of the church of San Gaetano in Brancaccio. It was one of the more difficult neighborhoods of Palermo, where many street kids ended up giving in to the "charm" of the mafia. Don Pino Puglisi's attention turned to those boys, to show them that another way, that of the legality, it was possible. Pino Puglisi he was never afraid of the mafia. He criticized them harshly during his homilies and he did everything he could to get the kids out of the hands of organized crime. On 29 January 1993, the "anti-mafia parish priest"Inaugurated the center "Our father”In Brancaccio, immediately a point of reference for the neighborhood. Don Pino Puglisi was aware that his exposure would have consequences, that he would have paid a very high price for his courage. Fears of him turned into reality on the evening of September 15 of that year.
Father Pino Puglisi was a heroa hope for many young people with a criminal future already written and a symbol of the anti-mafia, as Falcone, Purse o Peppino Impastato. It was the first martyr killed by the mafia. On May 25, 2013, twenty years after his death, Father Puglisi was proclaimed blessed by the Catholic Church. Today, almost 30 years after his martyrdom, the parish priest is still in the hearts of many people, even those who have never known him. The love for young people and the desire to remove them from the mafia environment have decreed his death sentence. However its faith in Christ and in legality they were the light at the end of the tunnel for many young people who, thanks to Pino Puglisi, managed to build a better future. "If the grain of wheat, fallen to the ground, does not die, it remains alone; if it dies, it produces much fruit"(John 12,24).
Photo in evidence: © Reception Center “Padre Nostro” ONLUS.
