Centenary of Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina Stigmatisation – a New Perspective

Abstract

Padre Pio is the only Catholic priest endowed by God with the privilege of visible stigmatisation. During half a century (1918–1968) faithful from all over the world were coming to San Giovanni Rotondo in order to see personally the Saviour’s wounds at holy mass celebrated by this saint. In 2006 researchers were given access to Vatican archive files of a secret visitation which was carried out in 1921 at the mandate of the Holy Office by a Capuchin friar R.C. Rossi. He was the one who discovered the cause of the Padre Pio’s stigmatisation that remained unknown until 2006.