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| In Rome, a Grand Welcome for 2 Long-Deceased Saints | In Rome, a Grand Welcome for 2 Long-Deceased Saints |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| ROME — Along the broad boulevard leading to St. Peter’s Square, the faithful pressed forward. Nuns pointed cellphone cameras. Others stood on tiptoes, trying to catch a glimpse. Squadrons of police officers restrained the crowds and blocked traffic, as motorists could do little except step out of their cars and watch the show. | |
| The ancient heart of Rome, a national capital as well as one of the world’s most fabled cities, ground to a halt late on Friday afternoon as the sun fell slowly over the Tiber River. | The ancient heart of Rome, a national capital as well as one of the world’s most fabled cities, ground to a halt late on Friday afternoon as the sun fell slowly over the Tiber River. |
| The reason? | The reason? |
| The bodies of two long-deceased Roman Catholic saints, Padre Pio and Padre Leopoldo, their silicon-enhanced corpses enclosed in glass boxes, were paraded through the old city in a solemn procession to the Vatican. For many, it was an incredible spectacle. For others, it was a profoundly spiritual moment. And for still others, it was all a bit weird. | The bodies of two long-deceased Roman Catholic saints, Padre Pio and Padre Leopoldo, their silicon-enhanced corpses enclosed in glass boxes, were paraded through the old city in a solemn procession to the Vatican. For many, it was an incredible spectacle. For others, it was a profoundly spiritual moment. And for still others, it was all a bit weird. |
| But as tens of thousands of people descended on St. Peter’s Square, the procession was a reminder that even as the Vatican has embraced the modern media age with papal Twitter accounts, papal selfies and papal Google hangouts, it also still communicates in the symbols and traditions of the medieval age. (Even as the Vatican livestreamed part of the event on its website.) | But as tens of thousands of people descended on St. Peter’s Square, the procession was a reminder that even as the Vatican has embraced the modern media age with papal Twitter accounts, papal selfies and papal Google hangouts, it also still communicates in the symbols and traditions of the medieval age. (Even as the Vatican livestreamed part of the event on its website.) |
| “We are devoted to Padre Pio,” said Anna Oppedisano, who had come from northern Italy to see his remains. “For us, it’s not just an event. It has a religious meaning. Seeing him go through the streets of Rome is important to us, for what it represents. It has a highly historical and symbolic value.” | “We are devoted to Padre Pio,” said Anna Oppedisano, who had come from northern Italy to see his remains. “For us, it’s not just an event. It has a religious meaning. Seeing him go through the streets of Rome is important to us, for what it represents. It has a highly historical and symbolic value.” |
| For Pope Francis, rolling out the two saints is a signature moment in the Jubilee year that he has called to celebrate the theme of mercy. Next week, Francis will dispatch a group of priests around the world — so-called Missionaries of Mercy — to absolve sins, and Padre Pio and Padre Leopoldo are being offered up as good examples. | For Pope Francis, rolling out the two saints is a signature moment in the Jubilee year that he has called to celebrate the theme of mercy. Next week, Francis will dispatch a group of priests around the world — so-called Missionaries of Mercy — to absolve sins, and Padre Pio and Padre Leopoldo are being offered up as good examples. |
| Francis has always championed the ways that some Catholics, including large numbers of poor people, sometimes express their Catholic faith through “popular devotions.” And venerating relics — objects or even bone fragments believed to come from saints — is deeply ingrained in Catholic tradition. | Francis has always championed the ways that some Catholics, including large numbers of poor people, sometimes express their Catholic faith through “popular devotions.” And venerating relics — objects or even bone fragments believed to come from saints — is deeply ingrained in Catholic tradition. |
| But there is an undeniable showbiz quality to their arrival in Rome. The two saints were Capuchin friars who died in the 20th century, but it is Padre Pio who is still a major Catholic rock star, with a global following that has grown since his death in 1968. Earlier in the week, Italian news channels dispatched reporters to southern Italy, where Padre Pio’s remains are kept inside a modern sanctuary, so that they could broadcast live shots as the corpse began its journey toward Rome. | But there is an undeniable showbiz quality to their arrival in Rome. The two saints were Capuchin friars who died in the 20th century, but it is Padre Pio who is still a major Catholic rock star, with a global following that has grown since his death in 1968. Earlier in the week, Italian news channels dispatched reporters to southern Italy, where Padre Pio’s remains are kept inside a modern sanctuary, so that they could broadcast live shots as the corpse began its journey toward Rome. |
| Not everyone is so thrilled. On his talk radio program Friday morning, the commentator, Oscar Giannino, teasingly mocked the whole event while his guest, Massimo Fini, a writer and self-described honest pagan, questioned why more than 1,000 Italian police officers were handling security (rather than Vatican security such as the Swiss Guards) at cost to ordinary citizens. | Not everyone is so thrilled. On his talk radio program Friday morning, the commentator, Oscar Giannino, teasingly mocked the whole event while his guest, Massimo Fini, a writer and self-described honest pagan, questioned why more than 1,000 Italian police officers were handling security (rather than Vatican security such as the Swiss Guards) at cost to ordinary citizens. |
| “The Swiss Guards should protect him, or he should protect himself, given that he is a saint,” Mr. Fini joked. | “The Swiss Guards should protect him, or he should protect himself, given that he is a saint,” Mr. Fini joked. |
| Robert Mickens, a longtime Vatican analyst, said venerating saints or praying at the tombs of martyrs is a time-honored Catholic practice, but he questioned the decision to display the remains of the two saints. “What I find so distasteful, wrongheaded and sort of bizarre is parading these things under glass boxes,” said Mr. Mickens, the editor of Global Pulse magazine. “This is like Lenin’s Tomb, for God’s sake.” | Robert Mickens, a longtime Vatican analyst, said venerating saints or praying at the tombs of martyrs is a time-honored Catholic practice, but he questioned the decision to display the remains of the two saints. “What I find so distasteful, wrongheaded and sort of bizarre is parading these things under glass boxes,” said Mr. Mickens, the editor of Global Pulse magazine. “This is like Lenin’s Tomb, for God’s sake.” |
| The Vatican did not always embrace Padre Pio, either. It initiated numerous investigations against him, beginning in the 1920s, after his devotees said he had supernatural powers and carried the stigmata, the markings of the crucifixion wounds of Christ. But the Vatican later reversed course, and Pope John Paul II named him a saint in 2002. | The Vatican did not always embrace Padre Pio, either. It initiated numerous investigations against him, beginning in the 1920s, after his devotees said he had supernatural powers and carried the stigmata, the markings of the crucifixion wounds of Christ. But the Vatican later reversed course, and Pope John Paul II named him a saint in 2002. |
| A major part of Padre Pio’s wide appeal — and perhaps one reason Pope Francis is using him as the symbol of his year of mercy — is his reputation for listening to confessions day in and day out during his lifetime, including from John Paul ll, before he became pope. Lore has it that Padre Pio heard two million confessions. | A major part of Padre Pio’s wide appeal — and perhaps one reason Pope Francis is using him as the symbol of his year of mercy — is his reputation for listening to confessions day in and day out during his lifetime, including from John Paul ll, before he became pope. Lore has it that Padre Pio heard two million confessions. |
| Today, Padre Pio’s image is still widely displayed across Italy, and millions of pilgrims have visited his sanctuary in the hilltop town of San Giovanni Rotondo, in the southern Italian region of Puglia. In 2008, his body was exhumed, treated with chemicals, adorned with a silicon replica of his face and placed inside an oxygen-free glass box so that pilgrims could see him. | Today, Padre Pio’s image is still widely displayed across Italy, and millions of pilgrims have visited his sanctuary in the hilltop town of San Giovanni Rotondo, in the southern Italian region of Puglia. In 2008, his body was exhumed, treated with chemicals, adorned with a silicon replica of his face and placed inside an oxygen-free glass box so that pilgrims could see him. |
| For this week’s trip north to the Vatican, the glass box was placed in a second, protective glass box, loaded into a windowed hearse and driven up the highway in a caravan of Capuchin friars. At one point, the entourage pulled into one of Italy’s familiar highway rest stops, the Autogrill, which are usually teeming with travelers queuing for espressos and sandwiches. Out popped a dozen or so brown-robed friars, an archbishop and a coterie of police officers. | |
| Given the widespread news coverage, it did not take long for people to figure out who had pulled in. | Given the widespread news coverage, it did not take long for people to figure out who had pulled in. |
| “Waiters and bartenders left their positions to go touch the hearse,” said Stefano Campanella, director of Teleradio Padre Pio, a television and radio network dedicated to the Italian saint. “There were even people on the highway overpasses who took pictures.” | “Waiters and bartenders left their positions to go touch the hearse,” said Stefano Campanella, director of Teleradio Padre Pio, a television and radio network dedicated to the Italian saint. “There were even people on the highway overpasses who took pictures.” |
| The caravan arrived in Rome on Wednesday evening, stopping first at St. Lawrence Outside the Walls, an ancient church where thousands of faithful lined up for hours to see Padre Pio. On Thursday, the corpse was moved to San Salvatore in Lauro, a church just across the Tiber River from the Vatican. There, the local priest, Father Pietro Bongiovanni, was busily preparing for round-the-clock Masses before the procession moved to the Vatican on Friday afternoon. | |
| Father Bongiovanni is one of the local caretakers of the Padre Pio movement. Devotees of the saint regularly meet in his church, which houses several Padre Pio relics, including one of his garments, a cloth stained with his blood and one of his gloves. In 2000, Father Bongiovanni took the relics on a two-week tour of Argentina at the invitation of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires — who is now Pope Francis. | Father Bongiovanni is one of the local caretakers of the Padre Pio movement. Devotees of the saint regularly meet in his church, which houses several Padre Pio relics, including one of his garments, a cloth stained with his blood and one of his gloves. In 2000, Father Bongiovanni took the relics on a two-week tour of Argentina at the invitation of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires — who is now Pope Francis. |
| “He had us start with the poorest of all,” Father Bongiovanni recalled of a tour that began in the slums as Francis hoped seeing the relics might lift public spirits with Argentina then mired in economic crisis. | “He had us start with the poorest of all,” Father Bongiovanni recalled of a tour that began in the slums as Francis hoped seeing the relics might lift public spirits with Argentina then mired in economic crisis. |
| On Friday, Father Bongiovanni walked with the procession to the Vatican, smiling and singing. He was possibly a bit relieved. A day earlier, as he awaited the arrival of Padre Pio at his church, the phone in his office was ringing off the hook. | On Friday, Father Bongiovanni walked with the procession to the Vatican, smiling and singing. He was possibly a bit relieved. A day earlier, as he awaited the arrival of Padre Pio at his church, the phone in his office was ringing off the hook. |
| “It has been ringing every minute for a month!” he said, chuckling. | “It has been ringing every minute for a month!” he said, chuckling. |