Italia nel mondo - Inglese

Italy: Plan to Exhume Popular Saint Opposed

[NYT - Europe]

Plans to exhume the body of Padre Pio, left, Italy’s favorite saint, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of his death have been met with fierce opposition from followers. The priest is said to have borne the bleeding wounds of the crucified Christ on his hands, feet and side for 50 years. Over the weekend, Archbishop Domenico Umberto D’Ambrosio announced his intention to lift the saint from his crypt in southern San Giovanni Rotondo and put the body on display for several months for pilgrims to venerate, starting in April. But other Roman Catholics, among them Francesco Traversi, who heads an association of Padre Pio devotees, are threatening to block the exhumation in court. The popularity of Padre Pio, who was also credited with thousands of miraculous cures during his life, is hard to overestimate. A Catholic magazine found that more Italian Catholics pray to him than any other icon of the faith, including the Virgin Mary or Jesus. Pope John Paul II made him a saint in 2002, four years after his death at 81, at a ceremony that drew one of the biggest Vatican crowds ever.