Don Pino Puglisi, in enemy territory
Palermo, 15 September 1993. It is 22.42 pm. A priest gets on his white Uno in via Brancaccio, right in front of the church of San Gaetano. In Palermo it is still good, despite the time it is 21 degrees. The priest walks along Viale d'Aosta with the window down and who knows what he is thinking about? Perhaps he is thinking of his children, those who attend the Our Father, a reception center he himself founded. Or maybe think of the death threats he keeps getting, threats he kept to himself. Yes, because this priest is different from the others, he is Don Pino Puglisi, a priest who fights the mafia right there in Brancaccio, in the territory of the Graviano brothers. From the church of San Gaetano, at that time, it takes about three minutes by car to get home, in piazzale Anita Garibaldi.
Don Pino, known as 3P, a priest against the mafia
In 1993 Don Pino Puglisi had already been parish priest for many years. 29 years lived in the popular districts of Palermo, dangerous places for those like him who did not lower their heads in front of the mafia. It must be remembered that in May of the previous year Giovanni Falcone, the magistrate who was investigating the mafia and the negotiations with the state, had been killed together with his wife and escort. Then in July of the same year it was the turn of Paolo Borsellino, Falcone's friend and colleague. These are difficult years for those who have chosen to fight the mafia in Sicily. The Corleonese shoot and blow up anyone in their way. People are afraid and perhaps even Don Puglisi is afraid, but he is not one to give up. For many years Fr Pugliesi has been fighting to save the young people of Palermo from the mafia, to give them a future that is not made up of violence and crime. His boys love him and jokingly call him "3P", Father Pino Puglisi. But the mafia is not happy with this. How does a small suburban priest allow himself to steal the labor for drug dealing and robberies? How does Don Puglisi allow himself to obstruct the Cosa Nostra empire?
It is now 22.45:2001 pm Don Pino Puglisi gets out of his white Uno and reaches the front door. A voice calls him. He turns around. He smiles. His last words are: "I expected it". The gunshot that killed Don Puglisi started from his shoulders and his killer is Salvatore Grigoli. Together with Grigoli that evening there are also Gaspare Spatuzza, Cosimo Lo Nigro, Luigi Giacalone and Nino Mangano who together with the Graviano, recognized as the instigators of the murder, in XNUMX will be sentenced on appeal to life imprisonment.
A smile that is worth more than anything else
In 2013 Don Pino was beatified by the Church as the first martyr due to the mafia. On 26 August 2015, the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella awarded Father Puglisi the gold medal for civil valor, one of the highest honors of the Republic. The motivation says: ”(…) He sacrificed his life without bowing to the pressures of organized crime. A wonderful example of extraordinary dedication to the service of the Church and civil society, pushed to the point of extreme sacrifice. " But perhaps we will remember him above all that last, indecipherable smile of his.
