By Francesco D. Colacelli

There were  some who were troubled  by the exhumation. They could not accept the idea  of visiting the crypt and finding it no longer as it  had been for the last 40 years, of no longer seeing the block of  black Labrador marble on which they, and others like  Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta and the Servant of God Pope John Paul II, had placed their hands in prayer. It was of little use to explain to these sufferers of nostalgia that this is part of the process for all saints.

There were others who were troubled by the exposition of his body. Lacking a sound knowledge of Padre Pio’s spirituality, it seemed to them to be a violation of his humility, that inspired his whole life. And it was not enough to explain that, even though  Padre Pio always sought never to draw attention to himself and to hide his supernatural gifts for which he experienced such “confusion,” he would not have thought twice  if he knew, through his gift of reading hearts, that by showing his stigmata, even to people he barely knew,  he could  have awakened a conscience or enlivened...