Posted on 06/25/2013 7:31:14 AM PDT by marshmallow
ROME — A bishop in Sicily has issued an unprecedented decree that says convicted mobsters will be denied a church funeral.
The measure was announced June 22 by Bishop Antonino Raspanti, during a meeting with Italy’s justice minister, Anna Maria Cancellieri.
Churches in the Diocese of Acireale will refuse to celebrate funerals for mobsters who have been convicted with a final sentence in Italy’s three-tier court system, and who have shown no sign of repentance before death, according to the decree.
Raspanti recognized that his act has a “high symbolic value,” saying he aims to “increase attention to this issue and to wake up consciences.”
“Being a Christian is incompatible with having links to Mafia organizations,” he explained.
(Excerpt) Read more at thestate.com ...
A shame that Bishop Antonino Raspanti was not Archbishop of Boston on August 29 of 2009 .....
Good luck on the next church fundraiser. J/K
Good for the Bishop.
Got that right. Especially since that particular funeral was not merely the basics of requiem Mass and prayers for the soul of a fellow sinner, but an extravaganza which had the look, sound, and smell of a canonization.
Too bad US bishops don’t follow this example. Giving abortion champion Ted Kennedy a Catholic funeral was a travesty.
Giving abortion champion Ted Kennedy a Catholic funeral was a travesty.
O'Malley showed his lack of a spine by allowing that mockery of the faith to take place.
What about unconvicted mobsters?
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