Priest Gunned Down by Italian Mobsters Now Beatified

Photo ~ Faithful gather in front of a giant picture of Rev. Giuseppe Puglisi during his beatification ceremony in Palermo, Sicily, southern Italy, Saturday, May 25, 2013. Puglisi, who stirred consciences with his anti-Mafia preaching and was gunned down by mobsters in 1993, has been honored by the Vatican as a martyr. Puglisi urged young people, often jobless and easily recruited by Cosa Nostra, to turn their backs on the mob. In the background is Mount Pellegrino. (Photo: AP/Alessandro Fucarini)

ROME (AP) — An Italian priest who stirred consciences with his anti-Mafia preaching and was gunned down by mobsters has been honored by the Vatican as a martyr.

The Rev. Giuseppe “Pino” Puglisi was beatified in a ceremony Saturday in Palermo, the Sicilian capital where he worked in a mobster-infested, poor neighborhood.

He was slain in 1993, a few months after Pope John Paul II visited Sicily and urged priests to rally the faithful against organized crime.

Forty bishops and a cardinal representing Pope Francis attended the ceremony, as well as government ministers from Rome.