PALERMO, Italy – Hollywood precedent notwithstanding, an Italian archbishop has announced that known members of the mafia cannot be godparents for the Catholic sacraments of baptism or confirmation.

VATICAN CITY – Frequently an outspoken critic against organized crime, Pope Francis again came out with harsh words for those involved in the mafia and other criminal activities, which he said are “stained with blood” and go directly against the faith.

ROME - Television programs, coffee bars, Italian Twitter accounts and the corridors of political power were abuzz Aug. 20-21 with news and commentary about the extravagance surrounding the funeral of the reputed boss of an organized crime ring in Rome.

VATICAN CITY - The bishop of a southern Italian diocese has issued new directives aimed at keeping the mafia out of this year's Easter processions.

ROME - Catholic bishops from the southern Italian region of Calabria have broken their silence and spoken out against the “inhumane” power of the Mafia that dominates their poverty-stricken area.

ROME - Half a dozen men stand nonchalantly in front of a grubby building on one of Rome������Ƶapp busiest streets as cars whizz past. They stiffen whenever a stranger approaches.

ROME - The Italian bishops' conference has sent a message of solidarity to Fr. Luigi Ciotti, founder of Libera, a network of Italian anti-Mafia associations, following an apparent threat to his life from a Sicilian Mafia boss.

VATICAN CITY - The godfather who stands up for a child's baptism one day and spends the rest of the week running a brutal crime ring unfortunately is not the stuff of movies.

VATICAN CITY - It began with the murder of an innocent three-year-old boy who burned to death in his grandfather������Ƶapp car in a Mafia ambush in January. Pope Francis was so shaken by the death of Nicola “Coco” Campolongo that he spoke out against the ferocity of the crime and those behind it.