Book Slanders St. Pio of Pietrelcina
Historian Sergio Luzzatto’s latest book The Other Christ: Padre Pio and 19th Century Italy has deduced that Padre Pio faked his stigmata through pouring carbolic acid on his hands. A secret Vatican document found by Luzzatto revealed how a pharmacist remembered a young Padre Pio buying four grams of carbolic acid in 1919. The testimony was originally presented to the Vatican by the Archbishop of Manfredonia, Pasquale Gagliardi, as proof that Padre Pio caused his own stigmata with acid.
What I suspect is conveniently omitted from Luzatto’s novel is a fair disclosure on the truth surrounding Archbishop Gagliardi’s “veritable satanic war” waged against Padre Pio. For what ever reason, the Archbishop was bent on sabotaging St. Pio’s ministry through baseless accusations of sexual and monetary improprieties and soliciting falsified letters which were then forwarded to the Vatican. When in truth, it was the archbishop himself who was the center of controversy which included public accusations of sexual molestation, unchastity and faulty accounting errors, in addition to his diocese being infected with continued and habitual pederasty as well as acts of cleric sodomy. The Vatican eventually removed him from his diocese.
Saint Pio never retaliated nor ever criticized Archbishop Gagliardi and immediately said Mass for him after his death. It is said that the angriest he was ever seen about the archbishop’s attacks was against one of his own supporters who had verbally attacked Gagliardi - another fact that will most likely never come to light in Luzzatto’s book which has the stench of anti-catholicism which far exceeds that of carbolic acid.
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I bet if each one of us reading this post asks Saint Pio to intercede for this guy, it won’t be long before we are reading Luzzatto’s incredible conversion story.
Comment by monica — October 24, 2007 @ 12:07 pm
The Vatican eventually removed him from his diocese
Ah, the days when men were men and rotten apples got tossed into Gehenna…
Comment by dad29 — October 24, 2007 @ 1:19 pm
monica: I’ll pray for Saint Pio’s intercession–and you know Father Pio will interceed for this guy. Attacking saints brings bigh money–especially to those who are anti-Catholic, hopefully instead, the people who read his books will try to check out the facts and be converted–well, we can only pray.
Comment by tara — October 24, 2007 @ 2:19 pm
Much of the recent film, Padre Pio Miracle Man, distributed by Ignatius Press and starring Sergio Castelitto, deals specifically with the allegations and accusations that Padre Pio was a fake. The film allows most of the calumny against St. Pio to come out through the fictionalized near deathbed inquisition which ends with its own ironic twist. It’s quite a spell-binding and well-acted film with a haunting quality that lingers long after its conclusion. And it is not lacking for humor either.
Comment by John Hetman — October 24, 2007 @ 7:14 pm
for what it’s worth, Carbolic acid has long been used diluted to sterilize thing. Back in 1919 it was used to clean the hands of surgeons and wounds.
But full strength, it would cauterize and stop bleeding, not produce wounds…
Comment by tioedong — October 26, 2007 @ 1:55 am
Bravo! Excellent post.
As G.K Chesterton said, “When people stop believing in Christianity, they’ll believe anything else.”
Comment by Andrew — October 30, 2007 @ 9:02 pm