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Padre Pio – stigmatist who became a saint – ‘was a fraud’

ROME. An apparently paranormal phenomenon within the Roman Catholic Church – stigmata – is once again at the centre of controversy.

Allegations that Padre Pio, the monk who was canonised five years ago, was a self-mutilating fraud who faked his stigmata with acid are contained in a new book, Padre Pio, Miracles and Politics by Italian historian Sergio Luzzatto.

The Capuchin monk (1887-1968), who exhibited the wounds of the Crucifixion on his hands, feet and side, was regarded by the Vatican as a psychopathic fraudster for most of his life, and two successive Popes dismissed him as a fake. There were also allegations of sexual misconduct.

The stigmata were evident for 50 years, until his death aged 81. In the last years of his life the Vatican even bugged his confession box in its attempt to expose him as a fraud. Its report claimed that he used nitric acid to induce his wounds.

Padre Pio-2.jpg

In recent years the Vatican has changed its tune, and Padre Pio has been made a saint. It has responded to the claims in the new book by saying they are not new and were fully taken into account in the beatification and canonisation process.

Stigmata was not the only claimed paranormal phenomenon that occurred around Padre Pio. He was reported to have the gifts of bilocation (being in two places at once), healing the sick and prophesying the future.

Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2007
Category: Paranormal

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