The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, stressed the importance of legality and justice, giving as an example the testimony of Blessed Rosario Livatino, a judge murdered by the Italian Mafia.  

The Cardinal was speaking at the congress entitled “The Actuality of Blessed Rosario Livatino,” which took place at the Italian Senate on January 18. 

Cardinal Pietro Parolin said that Blessed Rosario Livatino is “a wonderful figure” because “he was a Christian of integrity who knew how to live his faith to the full in the exercise of a particularly delicate profession such as the judiciary, adjusting his interpretation and application of justice to Christian principles.” 

Livatino was assassinated when he was 38 years old by the Mafia. Referring to this assassination, Parolin explained that his life “was not in vain.”  

“Every gesture of generosity, every act of love, every offering of one’s life, every sacrifice made in the name of the Lord is always rewarded and bears fruit.” 

The Cardinal then encouraged magistrates to use this Italian Blessed as a model for their work, since he knew how to unite justice and charity by placing “the person at the center.” 

“It is also an effort made by the State and the community to recover all those who have entered the field of delinquency and criminality,” Cardinal Parolin said. 

Biographical data 

Rosario Angelo Livatino was born on October 3, 1952, in Canicatti, in the Italian province of Agrigento. He decided to follow the same career path as his father and entered the Faculty of Jurisprudence in Palermo. He finished his law studies at 22, Summa Cum Laude. 

On August 21, 1989, he was appointed judge of the preventive section of the Court of Agrigento. In that position, he sentenced several members of the Mafia to life imprisonment. 

On September 21, 1990, four men attacked him while driving his car. Amid the gunfire, Livatino escaped the car and tried to run. However, one of the men, Gaetano Puzzangaro shot and killed him. Interestingly, it was Puzzangaro who provided one of the testimonies for the magistrate’s cause of beatification. 

After Livatino’s death, a Bible, filled with notes was found on his desk, alongside a crucifix. 

In December 2020, Pope Francis recognized the martyrdom of Rosario Angelo Livatino, and he was beatified on May 9, 2021, in the Sicilian city of Agrigento.