Pope Francis has written a letter to Archbishop Corrado Lorefice of Palermo to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the death of Blessed Pino Puglisi, the martyred Sicilian anti-mafia priest.
“Following Jesus’ example, Don Pino reached the depths of love,” Pope Francis wrote. “He possessed the same features of the meek and humble ‘good shepherd’: his young people, whom he knew one by one, bear witness to a man of God who favored the small and the defenseless; he educated them in freedom, in loving life and respecting it.”
The Pontiff called upon Archbishop Lorefice, whom he appointed to his position in 2015, to “have the courage to dare without fear and instill hope in those you meet, especially the weakest, the sick, the suffering, the migrants, those who have fallen and want to be helped to rise again.”