Pio of Pietrelcina - Reported Supernatural Phenomena

Reported Supernatural Phenomena

Padre Pio was said to have had the gift of reading souls, the ability to bilocate (according to eyewitness accounts), among other supernatural phenomena. The reports of supernatural phenomena surrounding Padre Pio attracted fame and legend. Even the Vatican was initially skeptical.

In 1947, Father Karol Józef Wojtyła, a young Polish priest who was studying in Rome at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum and who would later go on to become Pope John Paul II, visited Padre Pio, who heard his confession. Austrian Cardinal Alfons Stickler reported that Wojtyła confided to him that during this meeting Padre Pio told him he would one day ascend to "the highest post in the Church though further confirmation is needed." Cardinal Stickler further went on to say that Wojtyła believed that the prophecy was fulfilled when he became a Cardinal, not Pope, as has been reported in works of piety. (John Paul's secretary, Stanisław Dziwisz, denies the prediction, while George Weigel's biography Witness to Hope, which contains an account of the same visit, does not mention it.) According to oral tradition Bishop Wojtyła wrote to Padre Pio in 1962 to ask him to pray for Dr. Wanda Poltawska, a friend in Poland who was suffering from cancer. Later, Dr. Poltawska's cancer was found to be in spontaneous remission; medical professionals were unable to offer an explanation for the phenomenon.

Because of the unusual abilities Padre Pio possessed, the Holy See twice instituted investigations of the stories surrounding him. However, the Church has since formally approved his veneration with his canonization by Pope John Paul II in 2002.

In the 1999 book, Padre Pio: The Wonder Worker, a segment by Irish priest Malachy Gerard Carroll describes the story of Gemma de Giorgi, a Sicilian girl whose blindness was believed to have been cured during a visit to Padre Pio. Gemma, who was brought to San Giovanni Rotondo in 1947 by her grandmother, was born without pupils. During her trip to see Padre Pio, the little girl began to see objects including a steamboat and the sea. Gemma's grandmother did not believe the child had been healed. After Gemma forgot to ask Padre Pio for grace during her confession, her grandmother implored the priest to ask God to restore her sight. Padre Pio told her, "The child must not weep and neither must you for the child sees and you know she sees." Oculists were unable to determine how she gained vision.

Padre Pio is said to have engaged in physical combat with Satan and his minions, similar to incidents described concerning St. John Vianney, from which Padre Pio is said to have sustained extensive bruising. He was said to communicate with angels and worked favors and healings before they were requested of him.

On the day of Padre Pio's death, mystic and Servant of God Maria Esperanza de Bianchini from Venezuela reported that he appeared to her in a vision and said, "I have come to say good-bye. My time has come. It is your turn." Her husband then watched as his wife's face transfigured into that of Padre Pio. On the following day, they heard of the death of Padre Pio. Witnesses say they later saw Esperanza herself levitating during Mass and engaging in bilocation Padre Domenico da Cese, a fellow Capuchin stigmatist, reported that on Sunday, September 22, 1968 he saw Padre Pio kneeling in prayer before the Holy Face of Manoppello, although it was known that Padre Pio hadn't left his room.