Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle was originally scheduled to preside over the anniversary Mass, but had to cancel at the last minute due to health problems.
Archbishop Franco Moscone, the bishop of Manfredonia-Vieste-San Giovanni Rotondo, told the congregation that Cardinal Tagle had been unable to come for the Mass after the cardinal’s doctor advised him not to travel after he underwent a laser eye surgery.
In his homily, Moscone commented that Padre Pio, a “little friar who came to this tiny and unknown place over a century ago is now a giant of spirituality and San Giovanni Rotondo is a crossroads of faith known throughout the world.”
Padre Pio is a saint known for his suffering, humility, and miracles. He was born in Pietrelcina, Italy, in 1887 and at the age of 10 already felt inspired to become a Capuchin friar. Shortly after he made his solemn vows as a Franciscan and received his priestly ordination in 1910, he received the stigmata — Christ’s wounds, present in his own flesh.
On the feast of the Assumption in 1914, Father Pio wrote: “In order to succeed in reaching our ultimate end we must follow the divine Head, who does not wish to lead the chosen soul on any way other than the one he followed; by that, I say, of abnegation and the Cross.”
Credit: Source link
