Padre Pio and Garabandal  NEW

WHAT DOES PADRE PIO SAY?

Document of the Marian Center in Paris about 1967

Reprinted with kind permission from Garabandal Journal /March-April 2019

For those folks who do not know him, the following provides you an explanation. Padre Pio is a Capuchin priest. He lives in the south of Italy in a convent at San Giovanni Rotondo in the Province of Foggia. He was born on May 25, 1887, at Pietralcina. He received the stigmata on September 20, 1918, when he was a young priest. He is the only priest known in Church history to the present who bears the stigmata. It is not so much by the stigmata that he resembles the Crucified, but more on account of his humility and good will toward all around him. For some fifty years, the priest Padre Pio has already shared his innumerable blessings. Sinners are converted, the sick are healed, and the despairing are aided. His gaze that pierced the hearts of those who went to confession to him was so deep that it uncovered the deepest hidden secrets. He possessed the gift of looking into the souls. Padre Pio prayed and expiated, achieving his work as victim. It was not so much by his words but rather by his heroic example that he called others to sacrifice and expiation. Beginning at the Offertory during his daily Mass, he saw the suffering Christ and joined in His sufferings both physically and spiritually.

Conchita said that Padre Pio would also see the miracle at Garabandal from wherever he may be. From this we see that Padre Pio must be connected to Garabandal in some fashion.

On January 1, 1962, on the occasion of a visit to Padre Pio, a group of Spanish pilgrims asked him whether the apparitions at Garabandal were true. He responded with his usual gruff tone: “Are you still asking this question? How many times must you ask whether the Mother of God is appearing to you when she has already been appearing for eight months?”

On March 3, 1962, Conchita received a typed letter written in Italian, without signature or address on the envelope, with a stamp that was difficult to identify because half of it was effaced. In the letter, the children were addressed as follows: “Blessed little children of San Sebastian de Garabandal,” adding the assurance that their visions of the Virgin were true. The letter ended with the following words: “I only give you this advice: pray and ensure that the people pray, because the world finds itself at the beginning of its ruin. They do not believe either in you or in the conversations with the Blessed Virgin. They will not believe until it will be too late.”

We know that Conchita asked the Blessed Virgin during an ecstasy as to the author of the letter and that she received confirmation that it was a letter from Padre Pio. The Blessed Virgin gave her the address of Padre Pio so that she could respond, which Conchita did.

On the occasion of a trip to Rome in 1966, Conchita went to San Giovanni Rotondo where she was affectionately received by Padre Pio, as has been confirmed by her escort.

A tour guide who led a group of pilgrims to Garabandal wrote: “Without the approval of Padre Pio, I would have never made the decision to rent a tour bus to go down there. I can tell you that the venerable Padre Pio approved and blessed our trip to Garabandal.”

We should also thank Padre Pio inasmuch as on June 18, 1965, a group from Italian television found itself in Garabandal on the occasion of the last encounter between St. Michael the Archangel and Conchita, and filmed Conchita’s ecstasy.

A member of the Holy Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Monsignor Philippi, wrote:
“The fact that Padre Pio, who is well known for his virtue, his knowledge and fidelity to the Holy See, said that these apparitions are good and encouraged the four little seers to make the Blessed Virgin’s messages known, is a big proof as to the truthfulness of these messages.”

Despite this, we have received some letters saying that Padre Pio never took a position on Garabandal, that he never said this or that. “This has been said to us at the convent.” Where there is a lot of light, there are a lot of shadows. Padre Pio was a great source of light. He fought against Satan on many fronts.

The person and personality of Padre Pio remains irreproachable despite this. Padre Pio belongs to a religious order. He is a monk and in every case must be obedient. And after he was banned from making declarations as to Garabandal and the future, there was nothing more to do than to suffer. Although for him there was yet another possibility, of letting the public know the greatest intimacies of himself. Let us listen to what happened recently at San Giovanni Rotondo:

A freemason came to San Giovanni Rotondo to photograph Padre Pio. One cannot imagine the reason or the intentions of such folks trying to get a photograph of Padre Pio. But what happened? When the photo was developed, the image of Padre Pio appeared with his head crowned with thorns.

There was nothing the freemason could do, except to go in haste to Padre Pio with the photograph in his hands, incapable of uttering a word. Then Padre Pio came to his aid and said: “It is you, the freemasons, who have pushed down the thorns on my head.”

Yes, it is the freemasons who are heading more or less the Church today and are leading it toward its ruin, despite the fact that we have not yet recognized the dangers in our midst.

No doubt this freemason was converted at San Giovanni Rotondo by this photo and saved. It was his friends who sent us the picture at issue.

What else was for Padre Pio to do today except to present himself as a man of suffering which in reality he was. His suffering, his immolation, in the meantime acquired such levels that it was often repeated: “Padre Pio is going to die.” His death is not like ours. For many months yet he must fight until God finally delivers him. [He died September 23,1968]

Reprinted with kind permission from Garabandal Journal /March-April 2019

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10 Garabandal Journal / March-April 2019