One day, Padre Pio said jokingly, “After my death there will be more hubbub than there is now.” Indeed, Padre Pio was truly a man who shook the world. “In the light of this ideal,” wrote Jesuit Father Domenico Mondrone, “the image of Padre Pio breaks out of the restricting frame of San Giovanni Rotondo and is offered for the guidance and admiration of the entire world. Padre Pio is still here waiting for you, watching over each of you, listening to you, and loving you. His love has not decreased with his death; it has, instead, increased immeasurably. I am sure that not a single one of you will leave that tomb without a gift from his inexhaustible paternal love.”
Everyone who goes down to the crypt and kneels in front of the tomb feels that something under that massive granite is still moving. This is why an influx of pilgrims continues without interruption, increasing with every passing day. Like a mysterious force, everyone who goes down kneels, prays, and asks with the assurance of receiving.
—from St. Anthony Messenger‘s “Padre Pio: A Saint for All Seasons“
by Fr. Francesco Napolitano
