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Last night at Mass, our enlightened younger priest, who is from India, gave a homily that my teenage daughter referred to as "really good." I asked her what he said (I don't have my hearing), and she said he quoted saints and popes all throughout, adding in that people of great wealth (we live in a wealthy area) have difficulty putting time aside for prayer, that a survey claimed only four minutes per day on average for this group. At the end of Mass, our pastor, whose last day was yesterday, spoke at the lectern to say goodbye and he...

SALT LAKE CITY — The last time Rosaelia Nevarez was diagnosed with cancer, her doctors weren’t optimistic about her chances for recovery. She needed an emergency operation, they said, and suggested she call her family to her hospital bedside. During the operation, she dreamed of the Virgin Mary. “She said, ‘You will be OK. You don’t have to be afraid,” Nevarez said. Appearing with Mary was Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, a saint Nevarez had heard of but didn’t know much about. Though a Catholic, Nevarez had left the Church several times, “but my faith has always been that without God...

Veterans Day is coming up, but there are few vets who have a story to tell like Mario Avignone.His life was changed during World War II when he was stationed near the monastery inhabited by St. Pio of Pietrelcina. Avignone, a salt-of-the-earth Chicagoan, and two fellow soldiers befriended the stigmatic miracle worker. Since then, he expresses his devotion to the saint by sharing his experiences with others, visiting the sick, and praying with the aid of relics.After a talk Avignone gave at St. Mary of the Angels Church on the city’s North Side, the 90-year-old veteran, over a meal...

Pope Benedict XVI / St. Padre Pio Vatican City, Jun 16, 2009 / 01:43 pm (CNA).- The Vatican announced today the details of Pope Benedict XVI's pastoral visit to San Giovanni Rotondo, the town in the Italian Region of Puglia where St. Padre Pio lived. The Holy Father is scheduled to arrive at the “Antonio Massa” sports ground at 9:15 a.m. on June 21. He will proceed to venerate the tomb of St. Padre Pio at the shrine of Our Lady of Grace, where he will pray and light two candles, symbolizing his apostolic visit and that of Pope...

Pope John XXIII believed Padre Pio, the hugely popular Capuchin monk who was canonised in 2002, was a fraud who had "incorrect" relations with women and whose soul was in danger.... Sergio Luzzatto...has also found documents in the Vatican archives suggesting that Padre Pio may have faked his stigmata, the marks of the wounds of Christ, with acid. Vatican officials say both allegations are already well known.... Followers of Padre Pio believe he exuded "the odour of sanctity", had the gift of bilocation (being in two places at once), healed the sick and could prophesy the future.

The body of Padre Pio will be exhumed and exposed for public veneration during the coming year, the local archbishop has announced.

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...

One of the outstanding characteristics of Padre Pio’s(Francesco Forgione’s) spirituality was his deep devotion to Mary. His love for the Blessed Mother was one which was present from his earliest years and which lasted through his whole life. In the small town of Pietrelcina where he was born, devotion to the Madonna has been a characteristic of the people’s spirituality for many centuries. Our Lady Liberatrix (Our Lady of Liberty) was the special patroness of the area and was venerated in the main church. Every year there was a festival in her honor with a procession through the streets. The...

Padre Pio and the Guardian Angel (The following is extracted from a spiritual letter written by Padre Pio to his spiritual daughter Raffaelina in 1914.) "Beloved daughter of the heavenly Father,May the Grace of the Divine Spirit completely possess your heart and that of all those who wish to belong to Jesus! May Jesus also reveal to you the mystery and power of His Cross, completely inebriating you. May His Virgin Mother be the very one who obtains for you the strength and courage to fight the good fight; may your good angel be for you a breastplate to...

Hurricane Rita is due to make landfall at Texas late on Friday night into Saturday morning. Padre Pio, now a saint, is one of the greatest intercessors of our time. Please pray for his assistance in petitioning God for His mercy upon those who live in the path of Rita. Also, remember St. Rita, patroness of hopeless causes, much like St. Jude.