(psst: "Stigmata" is a plural word. "Stigma" is the singular.)
Nope, because it's not my experience. Also not my theology since only God is holy, so any holiness perceived in the vicinity of Padre Pio is God's.
The reason that I'm dragging this comparatively old post up is that it hit me last night that it seems a lot of Protestant controversialists assume a certain internal state, characterized by superstition, stupidity, and ignorance in Catholics, and seem unable to entertain the idea that a few of us might actually believe in God. Certainly, some SAY that a few of us may believe and be saved, but that group doesn't seem to include those who defend and engage in Catholic faith and practice.
I'm reminded of my godmother saying that catholics were superstitious despite the fact that she knew about John Cardinal Newman.
In related news, being crucified is more than wounds in hands and feet. It is also being put in a position where breathing is exhausting and painful and finally one suffocates. The reason they broke the legs of the people crucified with Jesus was so that they wouldn't be able to push themselves up to inhale and thus would suffocate faster.
So no one is claiming that Padre Pio suffered the torture that Jesus suffered.
And that doesn't address the question of Jesus actively giving up His life, rather than merely waiting for death to come to Him. "I have the power to lay it down ..."
But the main point of my objection is that you are seem to be saying that God would not give the stigmata to Padre Pio (or Francis or any of the host of people who have had them) because it would lead people astray. But the Bible has led some people astray, and He gave us that.
The Way is straight. That some wander from it does not show that the way is bad.
Thanks. Well said. Except for a few posts, this entire thread has just made me sick.
I see no point in reading any religion thread outside the caucus, and won’t, in the future.
You need a dose of "niceness nodules." I am pinging Mrs. Tax for your coaching. Frustration is no justification for speaking truth... Besides, prudence, prudence...in all things, Prudence!
"And since the quarrel
Will bear no color for the thing he is,
Fashion it thus: that what he is, augmented,
Would run to these and these extremities;
And therefore think him as a serpent’s egg,
Which, hatched, would as his kind grow mischievous,
And kill him in the shell."
--William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar