Jan 8, 2008 / 07:12 am
Relatives are strongly opposing the planned exhumation and display of the body of St. Padre Pio, the twentieth-century Italian priest renowned for his stigmata and preternatural powers.
Saint Pio’s niece, Pia Forgione, and her eight children have begun legal action to stop the exhumation of the saint’s body, which is planned to be displayed later this year for pilgrims to venerate, according to ANSA. The family’s lawyer, Francesco Traversi, who also heads an association of Padre Pio devotees, said they were trying to prevent the saint’s body from being “profaned.”
Archbishop Domenico Umberto D'Ambrosio said permission for the exhumation had been granted by his “higher authorities” and was authorized by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The exhumation is part of many initiatives planned to commemorate the anniversary of the saint’s death, which took place 40 years ago this September.
The saint’s body is planned to be displayed for several months, after which it will be returned to the tomb in Santa Maria delle Grazie church in San Giovanni Rotondo, which neighbors the friary where Saint Pio lived.