A M E R I C A N   A T H E I S T S

#1034 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 6/17/02

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A Service of AMERICAN ATHEISTS
"Leading The Way For Atheist Civil Rights
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In This Issue...

Pope canonizes Padre Pio -- fraud, womanizer, "psychopath"

FLEEING SEX SCANDAL COVERAGE, POPE CANONIZES HUCKSTER FRIAR

Vatican Reversed Stance On Cult Figure Padre Pio

Before one of the largest crowds to assemble in front of St. Peters in Rome, Pope John Paul II yesterday officially proclaimed sainthood for a controversial Capuchin friar known as Padre Pio.

Decked out in gold and white vestments and wearing a jewel-encrusted gold hat, the pontiff celebrated a two-hour long solemn Mass of Canonization and declared that Pio's name was inscribed "in the annals of the saints," and that the church would celebrate his legacy with an annual day of devotion every September 23.

In addition to being one of the largest celebrations of its kind in the history of the Vatican, Pio's elevation to sainthood is also one of the fastest and most controversial. John Paul has canonized 458 people during his tenure as Pope, raising charges that the Roman Catholic Church is now a "saint factory" manufacturing household deities for popular worship. That rate of sanctification exceeds the number of those elevated to sainthood by all previous popes over the past 407 years when the Vatican began keeping an official archive.

None of this prevented crowds from jamming St. Peter's square, though. An immense portrait of Padre Pio gazed down from the facade of the Basilica in what the New York Times described as "a moment of intense jubilation."

"Gone for a moment here were worldly preoccupations, like soccer's World Cup, and troubling concerns about priests accused of abusing minors," noted staff writer John Tagliabue.

Despite the festive atmosphere, and the enthusiasm of a virtual cult surrounding the figure of Padre Pio, there are concerns that the church has, in effect, ordained a new patron Saint of Holy Rehabilitation. Indeed, Padre Pio's reputation over the decades has -- even in many official church quarters -- been that of a womanizer, fraud, and mentally ill huckster who claimed extraordinary paranormal powers. The padre was investigated by the Holy Office over a dozen times, and at one point banned from celebrating the Mass in public, receiving visitors, or talking to women alone. Correspondent John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter newspaper recently wrote, "The whispered consensus on Padre Pio in the halls of the Vatican was that he was at best a naive hysteric, at worst a con man."

Why all the fuss?

Padre Pio was born Francesco Forgione on May 25, 1887 in a small town north of Naples. He developed an early fixation with the Catholic faith, and by age 11 announced that he wanted to join the Capuchin order of monks. He was ordained in 1910 and promptly, says Allen, "acquired a reputation for special spiritual gifts."

One was entering trance-like states during the rite of the Mass. At age 31, he began reporting the "stigmata," cuts or lesions on his hands, feet and side that seemed to mimic the wounds attributed to Christ in the biblical tale of the crucifixion. Miracles -- or at least claims of miracles -- soon followed. Padre Pio, it was said, could give sight to the blind, even predict the future of those whose confessions he heard.

The church quickly began the first of a series of official investigations into the activities and claims of Padre Pio. A bishop accused the Capuchin order of using reports of such incredible events to make money. Popes Benedict XV and Pius XI ordered further investigations. When Pius attempted to have the charismatic priest, who by that time had developed a cult-like following, relocated to another friary, 5,000 of Padre Pio's supporters rioted and Rome backed down.

The claim of the stigmata was considered the most serious, however, by church authorities. The markings on the side, hands and feet signify the wounds inflicted on Jesus according to biblical references. St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) is considered by the church to be the first "authentic" stigmatist, although a man from Oxford, England claimed similar wounds two years before. A story quickly evolved of how Francis and a handful of followers climbed Mt. Alverno in the Apennine range, and after forty days of prayer and fasting were rewarded with a vision of Christ on the cross. St. Francis then reportedly received the stigmatic markings.

There was a surge of stigmata claims in the thirteenth century, and within 100 years of St. Francis's death, no fewer than 20 cases were reported. By 1908, that figure had climbed to 321, with one-third of them reported in Italy and most of the rest originating in France, Spain and Portugal. In later years, the phenomenon of the stigmata would cross the oceans, and claims were made by people in the United States, Australia and England. Most were associated with Roman Catholics.

Some of the wounds reportedly bled, while others were less spectacular and consisted only of impressions or markings from the heads of nails or something else which pressed upon the victim's flesh. They were rectangular, or straight, or consisted of multiple slash marks. Some stigmatists even presented wounds on the forehead or back. Marks would also appear on the wrists, in keeping with some of the revisionist claims about how crucifixion was performed during the Roman occupation of Palestine.

But imitation of Christ's death wounds was not the only extraordinary claim associated with Padre Pio. In addition to reports of pre-cognition, Pio was said to possess the ability to teleport himself through "bilocation." Reports of these paranormal appearances included Genoa, Rome, Uruguay and even Milwaukee. It was also claimed that the monk could repair broken windows with the mere wave of his hand.

Padre Pio was also an enthusiastic "penitente" or self-flagellant, a practice which some theorize leads to altered state of consciousness and fuels inner feelings of wholeness and transcendence.

Over the years, investigations even by church officials led to charges that Pio faked miracles and had sex with women in the confessional box. Many felt that the friar caused the stigmata by burning his skin with nitric acid, and used a perfume to create what his credulous followers described as a pervasive "odor of sanctity" that was said to surround Pio. A report by journalist Paul Vallely of the New Zealand Herald newspaper says that Pope John XXIII, suspicious of Pio's cult-like popularity, authorized the bugging of his confessional. And the founder of Rome's Catholic University Hospital concluded that Friar Pio was "an ignorant and self-mutilating psychopath who exploited people's credulity."

In 1960, Monsignore Carlo Maccari concluded an investigation ordered by Pope John XXIII. "The 200-page report he compiled," notes the National Catholic Reporter, "though never published in full, is said to be devastatingly critical. Vatican gossip long had it that the 'Maccari dossier' was an insuperable obstacle to Padre Pio's sainthood."

One entry in the file reported that Padre Pio engaged in sexual activities twice a week with female penitents, "his in hebdomada copulabat cum muliere..."

In 1992, Italian physician and theologian Agostino Gemelli, who specialized in the investigation of stigmata cases for the Vatican, said that Padre Pio was a "hysteric" who inflicted the wounds upon himself.

The reversal of Padre Pio's fortunes seem to rest on two factors -- his incredible, growing cult-like celebrity status, and the present pontiff, John Paul II.

The town where Padre Pio's mastery is located, San Giovanni Rotondo, draws a whopping 8 million visitors annually -- a number greater than those visiting the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, and second only to the church of our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico. Pio's followers number in the millions. His 1968 funeral was attended by over 100,000 believers, and his 1999 beatification attracted over 300,000. Yesterday's canonization drew an even larger crowd, with some estimates running as high as 500,000 people jamming Vatican square.

San Giovanni has cashed in on the popularity of its favorite friar. The town has less than 30,000 residents but boasts 87,000 hotel rooms that are regularly booked. The National Catholic Reporter estimates that this results in the sale of $2 million in promotional memorabilia like Padre Pio keychains and statutes, with the local bars and restaurants taking in $60 million. Annual donations to various sites and groups associated with Pio's legacy generate about $100 million.

Pope John Paul II has been central to rehabilitating the man who just a few years ago was considered by many to be a cheap hustler. Ironically, John Paul receives his medical care at Rome's Gemelli Hospital, founded by the Vatican investigator who charged Padre Pio with fraud. The two men had met around 1947 while the future pope was a young Polish priest. Vatican lore tells had Karol Wojtyla, the man who would someday be pontiff, asked Padre Pio to pray for a friend who was reportedly dying of cancer. The man survived.

The beatification and canonization of Padre Pio -- and the tacit acceptance of the miraculous, paranormal events associated with the controversial friar -- come at a time when the Vatican finds itself in competition with energetic Pentecostal and evangelical Protestants. Pio's paranormal accomplishments appear at times to have more in common with "signs and wonders" fundamentalism and tent revivalism than restrained Roman Catholicism. The "saint factory" strategy of canonizing a record number of personalities for church veneration is proving to be a media savvy move that encourages and supports growing public credulity.

For further information:
http://www.atheists.org/flash.line/vatican4.htm
("Pope running saint factory? John Paul beatifies monk accused of mental illness, fraud, philandering," 5/2/99)