Palermo mourns the death of Giacomo Ribaudo, anti-mafia priest: asked mafia to convert in 1993

Last Updated: October 12, 2024

At the age of 80, after an illness, Father Giacomo Ribaudo, the “anti-mafia priest” who did not like this label attributed to him for his activities in the at-risk neighborhoods of Palermo, has passed away. In an interview, he recounted that some mafiosi had told him in 1993 about Bernardo Provenzano’s desire to dissociate, which never happened. The parish priest of Magione, of Maria Santissima del Carmelo ai Decollati, in the Guadagna neighborhood, and of San Giuseppe di Villabate, in ’93 asked the mafiosi to convert. “Our role is cultural and social, while the tasks of repression belong to the State – he said – We must announce the Gospel and defend the weak, promote justice and solidarity, against every form of oppression and abuse. Faced with the mafia phenomenon, parish priests must not hesitate to strongly denounce even political and institutional connivances.”