St. Pio: Greatest Man of the 20th Century?

Many people believe St. Pio was the greatest man of the 20th century.

On September 23rd 1968, a few weeks before Richard Nixon would be elected president of the United States, while the world was listening to the latest Beatles album, a man died in a small town in eastern Italy. He was born poor; he died poor. Many people mourned. Not just in Italy, but around the world. He was a man loved by God. He was a man who was given many supernatural gifts.

This 81-year-old man, was a priest. His name was Padre Pio. He was the only priest in the nearly 2000 year history of the Catholic Church to bear the stigmata - physical wounds like those suffered by Jesus Christ. He had those painful wounds for a full 50 years. He was also believed to be the instrument of many miracles over the course of his long ministry.

The stories of his life are legendary: of his ability to read the souls of those who went to him for confession, so that he could recite their sins even before they opened their mouths. Of his gift of bilocation - the ability to be in two places at the same time. Of the healings that took place after his prayers to God. Of the magnificant hospital he built with the money people sent to him. And, most important of all, of his love for God.

In May of 1987, on the 100th anniversary of St. Pio's birth, Pope John Paul II, said: "How lively was his sense of justice and mercy, his compassion for those who suffered, and how concretely he committed himself to helping them. I wish to thank the Lord with you for having given us dear Padre Pio, for having given him to our generation in this very tormented century. In his love for God and for his brethren, he is a sign of great hope."

On Sunday, June 16, 2002, Pope John Paul II he proclaimed Padre Pio a saint: St. Pio of Pietrelcina.