Unemployed Sicilian man 'murdered his parish priest because he couldn't bear to listen to any more sermons'

Padre Michele di Stefano revealed parishioners wrongdoings in homilies

He knew the details from their confessions, according to reports

Antonio Incandela allegedly said he 'wanted to teach the priest a lesson'



A Sicilian accused of murdering his parish priest allegedly told police he couldn't stand to listen to any more of his sermons.

Michele di Stefano, the padre of a small hamlet in Western Sicily, used his homilies to comment on the abundant misdeeds of his parishioners, which he knew of from their confessions.

The elderly priest reportedly barely bothered to conceal the identity of the offenders, raising heckles among villagers in Ummari, near Trapani.

The church in Ummari, near Trapani, Sicily: Parish priest Michele di Stefano was murdered after apparently using his sermons to to comment on the misdeeds of his parishioners, which he knew from their confessions

He was found dead in his bed in the church rectory, after being beaten with the handle of a hoe.

Antonio Incandela, 33, allegedly told prosecutors that he had come up with the idea ‘to teach the priest a lesson’ after a sermon in which the priest described ‘bad apples’ in the community.

Incandela allegedly felt he was the target of some of these attacks.

The father-of-one insists he did not mean to kill the priest, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.



He allegedly claimed he had been aiming for his legs but missed in the dark, only realising his mistake afterwards .

He then stole the priest’s bank cards to make it look like a robbery, he is alleged to have said.

Incandela, who is unemployed, was caught after he used the priest’s bank card at a cashpoint, police said.