Pope in Sicily to honour priest killed by mafia

Pope Francis visits the Italian island of Sicily today to pay homage to a priest murdered by the mafia 25 years ago after trying to save youngsters in poor neighbourhoods from falling into their hands.

The Argentinian pontiff's visit will be brief but is part of a wider campaign he has been waging against organised crime.

He is expected to arrive in Palermo at 10:45 am (0845 GMT) and will say mass, then head to the Palermo parish where Father Giuseppe "Pino" Puglisi lived. He returns to Rome in the early evening.

Puglisi, known as ?the first martyr of the Mafia", was shot dead on September 15, 1993, his 56th birthday.

He is said to have uttered his last words to his killer, "I've been waiting for you", before dying on the doorstep of his modest home.

His assassination came at a time when Italy was already traumatised by the killings of anti-Mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.

For the previous two years Puglisi had been parish priest in the rough Palermo neighbourhood of Brancaccio, where he attempted to engage the local youth and keep them away from drugs and the mafia groups who supplied them.

In 2012 Francis' predecessor Benedict XVI officially recognised Puglisi as a "martyr" who was "killed by hatred of the faith".

The following year he was beatified in the presence of 40 bishops and 750 priests as well as the Italian interior and justice ministers.

Beatification is the first step on the path to Roman Catholic sainthood.