Padre Pio, famous because of his stigmata, but
was revered because of his
reputation for sanctity and miracles.
Padre Pio's essence was his charisma, his virtue, his ability to suffer,
his
boundless generosity and also his balance.... "We can say he had his
feet on
the ground but his eyes were toward heaven."
San Giovanni Rotondo, dubbed by some "the Las Vegas of the faithful",
eclipsed Lourdes 5 million visitors a year, with 7.5 million, even
before
Padre Pio was raised to sainthood.
One of Padre Pio legacies: On a hillside overlooking the town, one of
southern Italy's biggest and best hospitals. Called the House for the
Relief
of Suffering, it opened here in 1956 despite its hard-to-reach location
near
what might be called the spur of the Italian boot. [In Puglia, near
Foggia]
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The World
ITALY'S NEWEST SAINT PUTS TOWN ON THE MAP
Religion: Despite his marked past, Padre Pio has inspired millions
of pilgrimages to his home.
By David Holley
Los Angeles Times
Staff Writer
June 16 2002
SAN GIOVANNI ROTONDO, Italy -- As a priest conducted midday Mass for
hundreds of pilgrims, other believers in Padre Pio crowded around his
statue at the
side of the sanctuary.
Some lovingly caressed the bronze hands marked with stigmata for which
the
controversial mystic was famous. The less reverent posed for souvenir
snapshots, oblivious to the disruption that their flashes caused to
more
devout followers of the beloved Capuchin friar.
Welcome to San Giovanni Rotondo, dubbed by some "the Las Vegas of the
faithful." Padre Pio--who will be canonized by Pope John Paul II today,
34
years after his death--rose to fame and spent most of his working life
in
this remote town in southeastern Italy. To his millions of followers
worldwide, Padre Pio was always a saint. Their faith is now being rewarded
with the exceptionally rapid elevation to sainthood of a figure repeatedly
investigated by the Vatican during his lifetime as a suspected fraud
and a
sexual wrongdoer.
"In our hearts, Jesus Christ holds the first place, but Padre Pio comes
second," explained Angela Bellopede, 56, a small-town Italian who said
she
comes here twice a year. "All the people just want to honor him because
he
grants many graces."
Some say that with Padre Pio's canonization, San Giovanni Rotondo might
replace Lourdes, France, as Europe's premier pilgrimage site--if it
hasn't
already done so in terms of sheer numbers. A widely quoted estimate
is that
7.5 million visitors a year come here, while Lourdes claims only 5
million.
Padre Pio, who died in 1968 at 81, drew the displeasure of several popes
but
the support of others, giving a roller-coaster character to his career.
He
was named Francesco Forgione at birth and later adopted the religious
name
Pio.
His fame was launched--and the suspicions against him began--in 1918,
when
word spread that he had been marked by stigmata--wounds on his hands,
feet
and side similar to those of Jesus on the cross.
Such marks are viewed in Roman Catholic tradition as an extraordinary
sign of
holiness and are believed to have been borne by St. Francis of Assisi,
an
important role model for Padre Pio.
Over the decades, Padre Pio was investigated for alleged sexual misconduct;
doubt was cast on the stigmata, which his followers say he bore until
his
death; and he was banned at times from saying Mass or hearing confessions.
Now, with the support of Pope John Paul, who met Padre Pio decades ago
and
reputedly credits him with curing a friend of cancer through the force
of
prayer, all the old concerns have been decisively swept aside.
His canonization comes just three years after his beatification, the
last
step before becoming a saint.
In a brief biography, the Vatican credits Padre Pio's fervent followers
with
a key role in the decision to grant him sainthood.
"In the years following his death, his reputation for sanctity and miracles
grew steadily and became established in the church all over the world
and
among all kinds of people," it says. "God thus showed the Church his
desire
to glorify on earth his faithful servant."
Padre Pio's photo, showing him with a white beard and a deep gaze, can
be
found all over Italy. Police even reported finding it alongside a handgun
in
the pocket of accused Mafia boss Antonino Giuffre when they arrested
him in
Sicily this spring.
But the seat of his greatest glorification--and commercialization--is
San
Giovanni Rotondo. Here the streets are lined with shops selling Padre
Pio
statuettes, Padre Pio photos, Padre Pio T-shirts and Padre Pio trinkets.
On the hillside is another Padre Pio legacy: one of southern Italy's
biggest
and best hospitals. Called the House for the Relief of Suffering, it
opened
here in 1956 despite its hard-to-reach location near what might be
called the
spur of the Italian boot. Padre Pio made fund-raising for the hospital
and
details of its organization a key focus of his work.
"I'm happy that you can find a souvenir of Padre Pio, but I think there's
some exploitation of the phenomenon," said Carmela Lisanti, a pilgrim
from
the town of Ferrandina.
"I'm happy about the hospital because it has good facilities and good
doctors. But I don't like too much the souvenir trade."
But the souvenir trade is important for San Giovanni Rotondo, for the
town of
27,000 lives on little but Padre Pio. "Beyond his sanctity, Padre Pio
brought
us much work," said Antonio Russo, 40, who works at a restaurant catering
mainly to visitors.
Vatican investigations of Padre Pio began in 1920 under Pope Benedict
XV
after the local bishop suggested that the Capuchins, a Franciscan order
known
for vows of poverty, were making a spectacle out of Padre Pio to attract
contributions.
Specialists soon suggested that his wounds were due to hysteria, or
that he
was keeping them open intentionally under the guise of treating them
with
antiseptic. The stigmata were rarely seen because he almost always
wore
gloves to hide them in public.
In 1923, under Pope Pius XI, the Vatican decreed that Padre Pio's powers
were
not to be regarded as "of a supernatural character" and warned against
devotion to him.
But the burgeoning ranks of his followers were not dissuaded.
"When he used to raise his hands [while conducting Mass], many people
often
saw that he was bleeding, and a few drops of blood fell on the altar,"
recalled Maria Florio, 84, who knew Padre Pio for many years. "I didn't
see
the blood, but I was told by the people around me that he was bleeding."
Believers said that he was capable of being in two places at the same
time,
that he could foresee the future and that he emitted a strange scent
of
roses, another sign of his sanctity.
The greatest threat to Padre Pio's reputation came under Pope John XXIII,
who
in 1960 authorized an investigation. The resulting 200-page document
was
never published in full. But the Italian press reported that it contained
allegations that Padre Pio had sex with female devotees twice a week.
The
report was seen as an insuperable barrier to his ever attaining sainthood.
During Padre Pio's final years, however, Pope Paul VI looked favorably
on him
and endorsed the view that he bore genuine stigmata that were a mark
of
holiness.
The official Vatican biography quotes Paul VI as saying three years
after
Padre Pio's death: "Look what fame he had, what a worldwide following
gathered around him! But why?"
Answering his own question, Paul VI continued: "Because he said Mass
humbly,
heard confessions from dawn to dusk and was--it is not easy to say
it--one
who bore the wounds of our Lord. He was a man of prayer and suffering."
After Padre Pio's death, his supporters launched a counterattack against
the
sexual impropriety report and succeeded in reopening the issue.
"In the history of the church, it happened often that people were accused,
and then there was a recognition of them being right," said Francesco
Lotti,
retired head of pediatrics at the House for the Relief of Suffering.
Lotti said he was among 18 witnesses acquainted with Padre Pio who were
confronted with a long list of questions dealing with issues raised
by the
report.
"It was so easy to prove that ... the mental state of the people accusing
Padre Pio was not a healthy mental state," Lotti said. "You couldn't
possibly
think of those people as reliable."
That investigation demolished the "wall" that was blocking Padre Pio
from
beatification and sainthood, Lotti said.
The path was made easier still by Pope John Paul II's decades-old belief
in
Padre Pio's powers.
An oft-repeated story is that John Paul II, while he was still Krakow
Bishop
Karol Wojtyla, wrote a letter to Padre Pio asking him to pray for Wanda
Poltawska, a doctor friend who was dying of terminal cancer.
He did so, from faraway San Giovanni Rotondo, and she quickly recovered.
In a recent interview published in a magazine put out by San Giovanni
Rotondo-based Tele Radio Padre Pio, Poltawska said it was only in 1967,
several years after her cure, when she met Padre Pio for the first
and only
time, that she believed he had saved her.
"He came directly in front of me [and said], 'Is everything OK now?'
" she
recalled. "It was only at that moment that I thought he had intervened,
because before that I didn't think so.
"In reality, the doctor who saw me in the hospital told me there was
a 5%
possibility that it wasn't cancer but an inflammation," she said. "So
when
they told me that the operation wasn't necessary, I thought about this
5%
chance."
For many of Padre Pio's followers, the miracles attributed to him might
not
in the end really matter.
"Padre Pio is a saint because of his life," Lotti said. "It goes beyond
his
charisma, his stigmata--those are not the essence of his sanctity.
Padre
Pio's essence was his virtue, his ability to suffer, his boundless
generosity
and also his balance.... We can say he had his feet on the ground but
his
eyes were toward heaven."
*
Holley was recently on assignment in San Giovanni Rotondo.
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