Italian judge Rosario Livatino, killed by the mafia in 1990, at the age of 37, will be beatified as a martyr by the Catholic Church.
The decree recognizing the magistrate's martyrdom was authorized by Pope Francis last Monday (21) and promulgated this Tuesday (22).
Livatino, who had worked in cases against organized crime, was murdered by mafiosi from Stidda, a group that has a strong presence in rural areas of Sicily and is a rival of Cosa Nostra, in an attack in the province of Agrigento.
The judge was driving his car without an escort when he was hit by a car with four criminals. Livatino still got out of the vehicle and tried to flee through the fields adjacent to the highway, but was shot dead by mobsters.
The Italian judge was killed by the mafia on September 21, 1990.
According to the Vatican, the magistrate was murdered because of “hatred of faith” by criminals. One of those who ordered the murder testified during the beatification process and said that whoever ordered the crime knew that Livatino was “honest, fair and religious”, therefore he could not be an interlocutor of the mafia.
One of the perpetrators of the attack, Gaetano Puzzagaro, who drove the car used in the attack, has already given interviews saying he is “absolutely sorry” for the crime. “That morning, I hoped with all my heart that Dr. Livatino would take another path,” he once said.
The beatification ceremony has not yet been scheduled, but could take place in the second quarter of 2021, in Agrigento. (Handle).
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