Italian Judge Killed By Mafia Is Put on Road to Sainthood by the Catholic Church

"Anonymous" for Borderland Beat

An Italian judge who was murdered by a mafia group in Sicily took another step towards sainthood on Sunday, almost three decades after he was declared a martyr by Pope John Paul II.

The beautification of Rosario Livatino took place in the Cathedral of Agrigento, near the Sicilian town where he was gunned down on September 21, 1990, when he was 38-years-old.

Livatino, who attended to Church every day before going to court, was involved in a mass trial against a mafioso and was about to launch a new case when he was murdered.

He was one of the first investigative judges in Italy to go after the mafia's assets and financial structure.

"He understood that would lead to a weakening of the clans, their loss of control and also of social control," said Luigi Cotti, a priest who wrote a book on Livatino's biography.

His body was found in a ditch close to his home. He had refused armed protection. The two mafia members who killed Livatino, who were identified by a man who drive by the crime scene at the moment he was killed, were given life sentences.

In many of his personal court notes, Livatino marked them with the abbreviation "STD", for sub tutela Dei, a Latin invocation meaning "under the protection of God". This was common practice in the Middle Ages when judges made official decisions on criminal trials.

The notes also revealed that Livatino prayed to God for forgiveness since he knew he job posed a risk to his parents once he learned that the Cosa Nostra criminal group was after him.

John Paul II visited Livatino's parents three years after he was killed and said that their son was "a martyr for justice and indirectly for the faith". He also made statements to the mafia.

"Convert," he said. "The judgement of God is coming."

But Professor John Dickie, author of the Sicilian mafia history book Cosa Nostra, said that the Catholic Church has "a bit of a guilty conscience" on the mafia. Pope John Paul II's words only came after "decades and decades of silence and collusion," he said.

"With the Cold War over and with this upsurge in Sicilian mafia violence, finally the church began to take the mafia threat seriously, and not regard it as a sort of much, much more minor issue compared to the threat of Communism," he said.

In January this year Italy began its biggest organized crime trial in decades. Some 355 suspected mafia members and corrupt officials were charged after a lengthy inquiry into the 'Ndrangheta, the country's most powerful mafia group. It is expected to take more than two years.

Canonization Process

Per Catholic Church requirements, there are three steps to sainthood. A candidate becomes "Venerable", then "Blessed", and then a "Saint".

Venerable is a title given to a deceased person recognized by the Pope as having lived a heroically virtuous life or offered their life.

To be beatified and recognized as a Blessed, that candidate needs a miracle attributed to them in addition to having heroic virtue or offered their life. Canonization, the process of becoming a saint, requires a second miracle after beatification.  The Pope, however, may waive these requirements.

A miracle is not required prior to a martyr's beatification (which was the case for Livatino), but one is required before canonization.

Sources: BBC News; NBC News; VOA; USCCB