Pope Francis called the Mafia slavemongers a day after a Palermo, Sicily, priest was beatified after being executed for taking a stand against Cosa Nostra.

The Pope called on the Mafia to convert to God a day after 80,000 people gathered in Palerno for the beatification ceremony.

During his weekly address in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, Pope Francis said “I think of all the pain of men, women and even children who are exploited by many Mafias. They are forced to do work that makes them slaves, like prostitution. Behind all this slavery, there are Mafias. We pray that these Mafia men and women convert to God.”

About 80,000 people gathered in Palermo on Saturday for a beatification ceremony for the martyred priest. Beatification is the first step in the Holy Roman Church’s process of making someone a saint.

In his Sunday address to the faithful, Pope Francis said “Fatherr Puglisi was an exemplary priest, particularly dedicated to preaching to the young. Teaching the Gospel to the young, he took them away from the Mafia, which tried to defeat him by killing him.”

Father Pino Puglisi was beatified on Saturday in Palermo. In 1993, the priest had been shot dead in his parish for attempting to turn children against the Sicilian Cosa Nostra.

The mob killer who shot him was identified as Salvatore Grigoli. Grigoli was later jailed and repented. Grigoli claimed that he had discovered God. The Cosa Nostra triggerman revealed that Father Puglisi smiled at him just before he pulled the trigger. The assassin says the priest told him: “I have been expecting you.”

The Roman Catholic Church hasn’t always broken omerta, the Mafia code of silence, when discussing the criminal organization. Father Puglisi was ordained as a priest in 1960 by Cardinal Ernesto Ruffiani. Ruffiana had once answered the question “What is the Mafia?” by declaring “As far as I know, it could be a brand of detergent.”

by Tony Sokol