Mafia boss cannot be godfather, Sicilian archbishop says
March 17, 2017
A Sicilian archbishop has said that organized crime figures should not be Baptism or Confirmation sponsors.
“A Christian godfather should be a guarantee of raising a child in the faith,” Archbishop Michele Pennisi of Monreale told Corriere della Sera. “How can he be that, if he lives in opposition to the Gospel, in violence and total obedeince to the god of money?”
Archbishop Pennisi was reacting to the dispute that arose in December, when a noted Mafia chieftain, Salvatore Riina, was allowed to act as his nephew’s godfather.
The Archdiocese of Monreale includes the town of Corleone, used by author Mario Puzo as the birthplace of the fictional Vito Corleone, the head of the Mafia family that is the subject of The Godfather.
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