Has anyone here thought much of Padre Pio? He gets championed a lot by the RCs because of the fact that supposedly no Protestant or Orthodox has ever had supernatural powers much like Pio. His stigmata was overt, perhaps more overt than Francis of Assisi. RCs defend him against those who would accuse him of fabricating it with acid by saying that would leave permanent damage on his body to constantly be putting it on, since the results often disappeared immediately. Also, they say his persistent rejection by the public, as well as his fellow priests and popes, and now his recent canonization, happened because his life was meant to mirror Jesus' rejection by his own people. It's astounding if true, but also disturbing, as it seems that Pio is meant to be a second Jesus. They say that "God became man so man could become God" but not every Christian or even saint has had a life to mimic Jesus as closely as Pio and I find that disturbing. It's almost another attempt to elevate a saint or someone in place of Jesus and I find it creepy. I am really scared of people like this. What do you think?
Dear BibleHoarder, Why be scared ? You describe yourself as a Protestant Christian and so I cannot see why Padre Pio is of any interest at all. I and I know many other traditionally minded Roman catholics haven't the slightest interest in him. I have no certainty about his stigmata being true or false and it really plays no part in my everyday Christian life any more than devotion to the Divine Mercy (this coming Sunday; "Divine Mercy Sunday") will interest me. I view him, like many other devotions,prayers and saints, as Nice To Have for those who find this sort of thing helpful and appealing. A number of Anglicans here in England would probably have more interest in Dorothy Kerrin (of Burswood Healing Centre) who was reputedly the only Anglican stigmatist. The veteran Anglo-catholics; Fr Henry Fynes-Clinton and Fr Richard Langford-James, both wrote witnesses' accounts and descriptions as to her authenticity. More than that I cannot tell you. If you are a protestant with an interest in the physical phenomena of mysticism you could start researching her rather than an Italian Roman Catholic and everything about her is in English which makes it easier !
Don't traditional Catholics view claims of miracles outside the Roman church as demonic? If they claim they don't have valid grace and sacraments then why would they commend someone for claiming they can have those things such as a valid eucharist and such without being RC?
Traditional Catholics accept the (Russian and other) Orthodox sacraments and miracles as valid. I don't think that the RCC has ever pronounced on the validity of miracles outside the church. Other Christians can and do have real and valid Grace outside the sacramental structures. Correctly administered Baptism is always valid within any denomination as is marriage. Many Anglican possess valid but maybe irregular priestly and episcopal orders through the participation of Old Catholic Bishops in Anglican ordinations and consecrations. I prefer to answer; it's a mystery and we just don't know and in many cases don't need to know. We just need to keep on keeping on in our own little bit of Christianity. I don't know how this connects with either Padre Pio or Dorothy Kerrin, very sorry. I wonder if I have answered your question ?
I am not sure why you keep posting your questions on an Anglican Forum. The several I have read could be, I believe, be described as "Catholic-bashing". I certainly hope that is not what this forum is about. If you have grievances with the Catholic Church and would like to air those grievances with Catholics I propose you take these questions to a Catholic forum. As a scientist I can most definitely confirm two things in your post. The first is that applying acid to St. Pio of Pietrelcina's skin would not have produced stigmata, i.e. bleeding. It would have caused a chemical injury to the skin call a 'burn'. Secondly, if this had been done repeatedly then his hands would have had scar tissue on them and not normal healthy skin.
You're right that I need to calm down on my Catholic bashing as it was becoming a fetish. However, I am becoming softer towards RCs and am in contact with a local Franciscan fraternity of women who are RCs and do not fall in line with the scary RCs that colored so many of my past encounters with them. If anything I want a respectful dialogue with them and to be friends with them since there are Roman Catholic things I like such as The Imitation of Christ, Nuns/Monks, etc. On another note, I seem to recall a brief encounter in a doctor's office with Penn & Teller. They did not immediately disclose their identity to me, as I initially thought they were impersonators. I did, however, have a (more or less) debate with them on some religious matters. And if my memory serves me correctly, Penn mentioned Padre Pio and expressed some doubt on how to adequately explain his stigmata despite being in the profession of an illusionist who exposes 'pseudoscience' and fraud. He seemed aware of the alternate explanations given for the appearance of the stigmata (which PDL has addressed), but was at a loss to account for it despite his expertise as a magician.
May be Padre Pio did have stigmata. If God is capable of doing anything he's capable of giving a living person stigmata.