[Tantumergo]

"it is a possiblity that there are records of stigmata stored hidden in the vatican that we will never see or hear of."

It is possible, but genuine cases of the stigmata tend to be rather difficult to conceal. Your mum would probably notice quite quickly if you were oozing gallons of blood when she came to see you! Also the medical profession of one sort or another have usually been called in at some stage to see if the wounds are treatable.

"if a person DOES self inflict the stigmata, would that be considered a sin?"

They would not be stigmata - they would be the results of self-mutilation - and yes the act of inflicting them would be sinful. Although the motivation and psychological state of the self-mutilator would need to be taken into account before determining the degree of culpability which could be attached to the sin.

[candlelane]

i don't deny that it would be a hard thing to hide, but science alone would deny it. for the most part, science seeks reasonable explanations that can be proven and religion in all forms is a mystery yet to be solved. as for the church, i regret to say that anything that will cause embarassement or withdrawl can easily be covered up due to the high power base they are on. not that i think TRUE cases of stigmata would be embarassing, but there have been fictitious cases of it that if the church were to back and then later proved wrong could be tramatizing to them and the followers. mass preservation.

as for self mutilation, i would never think of doing it. it is my belief that it is a sin to do anything of the sort, but there are others who may consider it a way to become closer to christ and to fully understand what he gave up for us. that i can understand as long as there is no profit to gain, though i still don't consider the right thing to do.

thanks for writing back your opinion though. consider it noted. :-)