About Pino Puglisi
Giuseppe "Pino" Puglisi was an Italian Roman Catholic priest who openly challenged the Sicilian Mafia controlling his Palermo neighbourhood of Brancaccio. The Mafia killed him on his 56th birthday. His life story has been retold in a book, Pino Puglisi, il prete che fece tremare la mafia con un sorriso (2013), and portrayed in a film, Come into the Light in 2005. He was the first Mafia victim to be beatified by the Catholic Church. On 28 June 2012, Pope Benedict XVI allowed the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints to designate Puglisi a martyr in a first step to beatify the slain priest. During his Angelus address, the following Sunday, 26 May, Pope Francis stated that the newly beatified Puglisi was first and foremost "an exemplary priest and a martyr", as well as condemning mafia groups. With his trademark humour, Puglisi added: "But we should always criticize it like a mother, never a mother-in-law!" In 1990, Puglisi returned to his old quarter Brancaccio and became the pastor of San Gaetano's Parish.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.