Free Republic

The controversial public display of Padre Pio's body is attracting a new kind of Irish holidaymaker who likes to combine sunshine and spirituality. Thousands of these 'tourist pilgrims' are travelling to view the mystic monk's remains in San Giovanni Rotondo, before heading off for some secular sight-seeing around the rest of Italy. But the stigmatic saint, whose body has been exhumed 40 years after his death, is the main draw in these religious vacations to the Puglia region. Tour operators are tapping-into this growing market for trips with a sacred flavour. Around 750,000 pilgrims from all over the world have...

Padre Pio Now A Saint - Wrestled With Devil, Predicted Future By Philip Pullella 6-16-2 VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Padre Pio, the 20th century Italian mystic monk and miracle worker who for 50 years is said to have had the stigmata -- the bleeding wounds of Christ -- had for many people always been a saint. Pope John Paul formally declared his sainthood on Sunday at a solemn ceremony attended by hundreds of thousands in a sweltering St. Peter's Square and watched on screen by millions in Italy and around the world. For many, this was simply the Church rubber-stamping...