More than 300,000 people gathered into St. Peter’s Square on this day 20 years ago when Pope John Paul II canonized St. Pio of Pietrelcina, calling his life a witness to the “glory of the cross.”
According to St. John Paul II, the Capuchin friar’s life and mission “proves that difficulties and sorrows, if accepted out of love, can be transformed into a privileged way of holiness, which opens onto the horizons of a greater good, known only to the Lord.”
The Polish pope said, “Is it not, precisely, the ‘glory of the cross’ that shines above all in Padre Pio? How timely is the spirituality of the cross lived by the humble Capuchin of Pietrelcina. Our time needs to rediscover the value of the cross in order to open the heart to hope”.
On June 16, this year, Catholics celebrated the 20th anniversary of Padre Pio’s canonization in the small southern Italian town of San Giovanni Rotondo, where an estimated 7 million people visit Padre Pio’s tomb each year.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle was supposed to officiate over the anniversary Mass, but had to cancel at the last minute owing to health issues.
Archbishop Franco Moscone, bishop of Manfredonia-Vieste-San Giovanni Rotondo, informed the congregation that Cardinal Tagle was unable to attend the Mass because his doctor had recommended him not to fly after undergoing laser eye surgery.
Moscone In his homily, commented that Padre Pio, a “little friar who came to this tiny and unknown place over a century ago is now a giant of spirituality and San Giovanni Rotondo is a crossroads of faith known throughout the world.”
Padre Pio is a saint recognized for his humility, suffering, and miracles. He was born in 1887 in Pietrelcina, Italy, and at the age of ten, he was inspired to become a Capuchin friar. He acquired the stigmata – Christ’s wounds, present in his own flesh — shortly after making his solemn vows as a Franciscan and receiving his priestly ordination in 1910.
“In order to succeed in reaching our ultimate end we must follow the divine Head, who does not wish to lead the chosen soul on any way other than the one he followed; by that, I say, of abnegation and the Cross,” Father Pio wrote on the feast of the Assumption in 1914.
During his lifetime, Padre Pio’s reputation for sanctity and confessional ministry began to draw large crowds to San Giovanni Rotondo. He was noted for his compassionate spiritual guidance and patient suffering.
A young Father Karol Wojtya, who spent nearly a week in the little village with the Franciscan friar in 1947, was among those who came to San Giovanni Rotondo to have his confession heard by Padre Pio. He later returned to the town as a cardinal in 1974 (after the death of Padre Pio in 1968) and as Pope John Paul II in 1987.
When Padre Pio was canonized in 2002, John Paul II expressed hope that his example would inspire priests to offer the Sacrament of Penance “with joy and zeal.”
“The ultimate reason for the apostolic effectiveness of Padre Pio, the profound root of so much spiritual fruitfulness can be found in that intimate and constant union with God, attested to by his long hours spent in prayer and in the confessional. He loved to repeat, ‘I am a poor Franciscan who prays,’ convinced that ‘prayer is the best weapon we have, a key that opens the heart of God,’” he said.
“Prayer and charity, this is the most concrete synthesis of Padre Pio’s teaching, which today is offered to everyone,” John Paul II said.