On Saturday, Pope Francis called to the members of the Sicilian Mafia to abandon their life of criminality and violence because Sicily needs "men and women of love" and not men and women of honor as seen by the mafia.
The Pope visited Palermo on Saturday to commemorate the life of Father Giuseppe "Pino" Puglisi, a priest who was shot by the Mafia in 1993 because he challenged the mafia's control over the city's toughest neighborhoods. He was killed on his 56th birthday under the orders of Filippo and Giuseppe Graviano, who were convicted with their men in 1998.
In 2012, former Pope Benedict ordered that Puglisi should be beatified because he died as a martyr in "hatred of the faith."
In his speech, the pope said that these mafiosi - who still go to church and worship - "cannot believe in God and be Mafiosi" at the same time. He also called them as "dear brothers and sisters."
"A person who is a Mafioso does not live as a Christian because with his life he blasphemes against the name of God," he says on his sermon before 80,000 people who gathered in Palermo's port area.
The crowd would often interrupt his sermon with an applause every time the pope would speak against the Mafia.
The Catholic Church in southern Italy has a complicated stance about the mafia. Cardinal Ernesto Ruffini, who was archbishop of Palermo from 1945-1967, denied the Mafia's existence, considering communism the Church's biggest threat.
"I say to Mafiosi: Change, brothers and sisters! Stop thinking about yourselves and your money ... Convert yourselves to the real God, Jesus Christ, dear brothers and sisters," the Pope said and then adds, "I say to you, Mafiosi, if you don't do this, your very life will be lost and that will be your greatest defeat."
