Pope Benedict XVI Visits Sicily

Pope Benedict XVI made a whirlwind, one-day visit to Palermo, Sicily on Sunday, during which he denounced organized crime as shameful and the cause of great physical and moral suffering.
The Pope also praised the memory and example of the late Fr. Giuseppe Puglisi, whom the Mafia murdered after he dared to challenge them in their stronghold.
The Pope remembered Fr. Puglisi at an evening encounter with the young people of the island in Palermo’s Politeama square, during which he renewed his appeal to all the faithful of Sicily and made it especially to the island’s youth, calling on them to be fearless in standing up to evil.
In his homily during the Sunday Mass that was attended by upward of 30 thousand people, the Pope encouraged Sicilians not to resign themselves to deep-rooted evil, and recalled the great public piety and devotion of Sicilians.
Quoting the words of the second letter of St. Paul the Apostle to Timothy, which had been proclaimed during Mass, Pope Benedict called on the faithful to be unashamed in bearing witness to Christ.
“Shameful,” he said, are the things that offend God and that offend man’s true dignity.
Noting the many and great social challenges facing the people of the whole island of Sicily, including the physical and moral suffering caused by organized crime, the Holy Father called them back to the confidence of their devotion to God’s Church and especially to God’s mother.
Marian piety runs deep in Sicily.
Indeed, as far back as four centuries ago, hundreds of years before the dogma was solemnly defined, Sicilians swore to defend with their very lives, the Holy and Immaculate conception of Mary, Mother of God.