Catholic Church beatifies Italian judge murdered by the mafia in Sicily
- Rosario Livatino was gunned down on a Sicilian motorway outside Agrigento, Italy as he drove to work in 1990
- As an investigative magistrate, Livatino, 37, had been leading investigations into corruption and the Mafia when he was murdered
A magistrate murdered by mobsters in Sicily and praised by two popes has been beatified by the Roman Catholic church on Sunday in the last formal step before possible sainthood.
Rosario Livatino was gunned down on a Sicilian highway outside Agrigento as he drove to work in 1990. Three years later, during a pilgrimage to Sicily, Pope John Paul II hailed him a “martyr of justice and, indirectly, of the Christian faith.”
Livatino was beatified in a ceremony in a cathedral in Agrigento. Hours later, Pope Francis at the Vatican said Livatino worked to judge “not to condemn, but to redeem.” As an investigative magistrate, Livatino, 37, had been leading investigations into the mafia and corruption when he was murdered. He was known for praying daily before entering court.
Francis also praised Livatino as a “martyr of justice and of the faith,” noting that the magistrate “always put his work ‘under the protection of God,’” a reference to Livatino’s motto. Describing Livatino as a “witness of the Gospel until his heroic death,’’ Francis expressed hope that his example would inspire others to be “loyal defenders of legality and of liberty.”
Soon after meeting with Livatino’s parents in Agrigento, John Paul II became the first pontiff to publicly decry the mafia. In improvised remarks on May 9, 1993, at an outdoor Mass in the ancient Valley of the Temples, John Paul thundered against mobsters, demanding they repent their murderous ways.