John Allen has an invaluable piece on a recently deceased Cardinal – and the priest who inspired him to take a stand.

The story Allen tells is interesting enough in its own right (even as it is somewhat depressing), but what makes it all the more helpful is the general context of the dynamic between church hierarchy and more charismatic leaders and movements. A constant, necessary dynamic in the history of Christianity, one that we seem to discuss a lot here.

Saints and bishops, as any student of church history knows, often have a curious love/hate relationship. Saints can be irritating figures, with a single-minded focus and a capacity to arouse controversy that rarely makes life easy. Bishops, likewise, can sometimes inadvertently become obstacles to sanctity rather than conduits for it, with their management concerns and a desire not to “rock the boat.” (This notwithstanding the fact that many bishops have themselves been saints.)

At the end of the day, bishops and saints need one another – bishops, to remind saints that no force in the church ever exists for itself; and saints to remind bishops that ultimately the church exists for the gospel, and not the other way around.

Though collisions between bishops and saints can be combustible, when they connect, the results can also be remarkable.

We had a reminder of the point this week with the death on Dec. 10 of Cardinal Salvatore Pappalardo at the age of 88. Pappalardo, who led the Archdiocese of Palermo from 1970 to 1996, was known far and wide as Italy’s “anti-mafia bishop.”

As Allen points out, Pappalardo was not always at the forefront of the struggle against the mafia in Sicily. But the heroic efforts of a priest prompted him:

After his transfer to Brancaccio, Puglisi was relentless in his battles against the mob, attacking the drug trade and persuading young people not to become mafia foot soldiers. It was his success in drying up the “talent pool” for young recruits that especially enraged mafia figures. Puglisi shrugged off death threats with the comment that everyone had to die.

Puglisi was shot to death in 1993. One of the hitmen who killed Puglisi, Salvatore Grigoli, later confessed and revealed the priest’s last words as his killers approached: “I’ve been expecting you.”

It was the death of Puglisi, along with the spectacular slayings of two anti-mafia judges in 1992, which transformed Pappalardo from a sympathetic but largely second-tier figure into a titan of the anti-mafia crusade. As late as 1992, at the funeral of one of those judges, Pappalardo avoided mentioning the mafia by name.

But at Puglisi’s funeral, Pappalardo dropped the euphemisms: “The Mafia can be eradicated only if the whole people of Sicily rise up in solidarity against its power,” he said. Pappalardo would later say that he didn’t want the spirit of “Don Pino” to be buried along with his body.

BTW, Fr. Puglisi’s cause for canonization is in process. Earlier this year, the Archbishop of Palermo advocated for the case during a meeting with the Pope.