Rome, Monday.

THE disclosure by an anti-Mafia priest that a man had confessed to him

of his part in some of the criminal organisation's bloodiest attacks has

caused furious ethical debate to rage across Italy.

Father Paolo Turturro, who works in a Mafia-ridden district of the

Sicilian capital Palermo, told parishioners about the confession in his

Christmas Day sermon.

Turturro, protected by a 24-hour police escort, said a 22-year-old man

told him in confession on December 23 that he took part in the killing

of anti-Mafia Judge Giovanni Falcone in May last year, and in four other

Mafia ambushes.

Falcone, his wife, and three bodyguards were killed when a bomb

exploded under their car.

Last month, magistrates issued 18 arrest warrants for the murder and

said they believed they had identified all those who took part.

Turturro said he believed the man, who came to him at his Santa Lucia

Church, was telling the truth because ''he had tears in his eyes and

asked for forgiveness''.

When magistrates questioned him at the weekend, he exercised his right

under Italian law and his duty under Church law to not disclose what he

learned in the confessional.

Religious and secular commentators criticised him today for disclosing

the confession at all.

Some accused him of going out of his way to court media attention in

his anti-Mafia fight. Others said he should resign from the priesthood

and tell all he knows to investigators.

''This is very grave and I hope he did it without realising what he

was doing,'' said Bishop Ersilio Tonini of Ravenna, a leading

commentator on church affairs.

''One should ask forgiveness in the name of the entire church for a

gesture that is not becoming of a priest,'' Tonini said.

According to canon law, Turturro risks excommunication if he reveals

the person's identity or if the information disclosed makes it ''readily

known''.-- Reuter.