Anti-Mafia cardinal dies at 88

Cardinal Salvatore Pappalardo, a former archbishop of Palermo Sicily who publicly campaigned against the Mafia criminal society for a generation, died Dec. 10 at the age of 88, according to web sources.

Cardinal Pappalardo in the early 1980s challenged the Italian government to take on the Mafia, and over the years he encouraged his fellow priests to do so as well.

In April, when reputed Mafia leader Bernardo Provenzano was captured outside Corleone after four decades in hiding, Pappalardo noted that the event was both a positive and a negative sign. That Provenzano would finally face justice provided hope for the future, he said, but his ability to remain at large for so long was evidence that many remained willing to protect him.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told Italy's ANSA news agency, "[Pappalardo's] efforts against the Mafia, made amid risks and hostility..., were of deep value to the church and to all civil society."

Other MobNews items relating to the Sicilian Mafia:
Power struggle in Sicilian Mafia? 09-22-2006
Trying to solve mob boss's code 09-08-2006
Sicily police arrest 52 suspected Mafiosi 06-20-2006
Mafia-linked Sicily governor wins reelection 05-30-2006
Mafia is election issue in Sicily 05-21-2006
Italian justice minister linked to underworld 05-19-2006
Provenzano nearly caught in '04 05-09-2006
Sicilian boss's code 04-26-2006