Cardinal Salvatore Pappalardo, who publicly denounced the Mafia during his tenure as Archbishop of Palermo, has died, the archdiocese said. He was 88.

The archdiocese did not give a cause of death.

Pappalardo's 25-year tenure in Palermo began in 1970, at a time when the Mafia operated virtually unchallenged in Sicily. The slayings of two prominent anti-Mafia prosecutors in 1992 pushed Pappalardo to publicly denounce the Mafia.

Born in the small town of Villafranca Sicula near Sicily's southern coast, Pappalardo was ordained in 1941 in Rome and was named the Holy See's apostolic nuncio in Indonesia in 1965, according to a short biography posted on the Web site of the Archdiocese of Palermo.

He was consecrated to bishop in 1966, and became Archbishop of Palermo four years later.

Pappalardo was elevated to cardinal in March 1973.

He was too old to vote in last year's conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI, because of rules that state that the new pope is elected by cardinals under the age of 80.