No, just because people are susceptible to altered perceptions in an emotional group doesn't make them smart, or dumb. It just makes them human.
Have you ever wondered why Jesus bodily resurrected, or had Thomas touch him?
And I dunno how the power of suggestion makes someone grow bleeding holes in their hands or smell roses.
If they were real, it can very simply be a product of his mind. Science is increasingly finding associations between health and state of mind.
This destroys the argument about the Resurrection though, you know. How do you or I know that the Apostles didn't just think they saw Christ? See where this leads? I don't want to dismiss mass hallucinations out of hand entirely, but I seriously doubt they are as easily done as some skeptics seem to think.
Where's the evidence, I'd say...what empirical data do we have on this phenomenon?
If they were real, it can very simply be a product of his mind. Science is increasingly finding associations between health and state of mind.
It could be a product of the mind sure...just like the wind could have just happened to blow the right way when Moses was crossing the Red Sea, just like it could have been an anomaly that the earth quaked and the sky darkened at the Crucifixion.
Let me be perfectly clear. Those miracles are in Sacred Scripture so we have to believe them...Padre Pio's miracles are totally debatable. Just let me implore you *do not dismiss them out of hand* just because Padre Pio was Catholic or just because you think it can't happen or because it doesn't make any sense to you personally.