A disturbing rumor regarding Padre Pio has recently resurfaced – a rumor which, according to an article on the Internet, originally appeared in a Catholic periodical in October 2002. It alleges that a secret exhumation of Padre Pio was ordered by the Vatican in preparation for his May 2, 1999 Beatification ceremony, www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/771264/posts.

According to this article, the top-secret exhumation revealed that the body of the saint was no longer in its coffin! Only his robe, cincture, and sandals were present. An elaboration of the original account claims that, since the tomb was empty in 1999, the body of Padre Pio being exposed for veneration in San Giovanni Rotondo in 2008 is actually a double, the body of another man!

There are innumerable problems with the empty tomb tale, not the least of which is the implication that Padre Pio was given celestial honors equal to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and was assumed into heaven. "Assuming" that God would perform this miracle, why keep such a wonder a big secret? In fact, what would be the reason for performing the 1999 exhumation clandestinely in the first place? The article in question offers no explanation.

As will be seen below in the description of the exhumation performed on March 2, 2008, it would have been virtually impossible to conduct such a complex operation covertly in 1999. The crypt area must be closed to pilgrims for a number of days and special equipment brought in, something that would immediately be noticed by the people of San Giovanni Rotondo. The empty tomb story asserts that there was a three-ton block of "Italian marble" over the tomb that had to be moved. However, an item in the official magazine published by Padre Pio’s Friary, "The Voice of Padre Pio" (March/April 2008), states that there was in fact a monolithic block of Labrador granite covering the burial space.

The rumor relies on the testimony of three people, interviewed by the writer of the article. Two of them are members of a family in Connecticut. These two people heard the story from a French priest. This priest was a friend of the late Silvio Cardinal Oddi, who supposedly saw the empty tomb. Although allegedly sworn to secrecy, the Cardinal told the story to the priest. In other words, the testimony of the people from Connecticut is two levels removed from the eyewitness to the purported 1999 exhumation. An aside: the priest’s name is given as Chamoine de Porta, a name found nowhere else on a Google search except in that story.

The other testimony upon which the writer based the story was from the late Capuchin priest, Fr. Carl Pulvermacher: he ". . . has corroborated this story." What does that mean? Did he hear it from the people in Connecticut? Was he a first hand witness? No clarification is given.

In a 2003 article, Michael Brown of Spirit Daily said this about the empty tomb legend: "That has been the wildest rumor, and as far as we can tell, there's no truth to that. We checked through a foundation in Connecticut [The Padre Pio Foundation, www.padrepio.com] devoted to the new saint, and they in turn were in consultation with the Franciscans who administer his shrine in Italy. From what we understand, the tomb has not even been opened." http://www.spiritdaily.org/Prophecy-seers/Pioupdate.htm

The writer of the story also spoke to the late John McCaffery, an author and close friend of Padre Pio. In a conversation with the saint, McCaffery mentioned the millions of pilgrims who would come to visit his tomb after he died. Padre Pio’s response, as reported in the article: "John," he said slowly, emphasizing every word, "Let them come! I will not be here!" This is truly an unusual and cryptic remark. But did the Scotch-Irish Mr. McCaffery clearly understand what Padre Pio, who frequently spoke in southern Italian dialect, intended to say in this exchange? The McCaffery anecdote is in contrast to a published account that Padre Pio wanted people to come and visit with him at his tomb after his death:

". . . there were many of his spiritual children who asked of the Padre, especially when he was approaching the time of his death: "Now that you may leave us, what are we going to do without you?" He replied, gruffly but at the same time playfully, "Silly person, I will be here in your midst, more than before. Come visit my tomb. Before, in order to speak to me, you had to wait. Then, it is I who will be waiting there. Come to my tomb and you will receive more than you did before!" www.sanpadrepio.com/Promise.htm

All three of the testimonies cited in the empty tomb account agree that at the time of the exhumation, "Nothing was said, except they closed the coffin and told everyone nothing." In that case, when was a so-called substitute body placed in the coffin? In the item featured in the aforementioned Spring 2008 edition of "The Voice of Padre Pio," there is a photograph of row upon row of the one hundred Capuchins present as witnesses at the real exhumation on March 2, 2008.

Archbishop Mgr. Domenico Umberto D’Ambrosio, the Delegate to the Holy See for the shine and Apostolic Works of Padre Pio, supervised the operation. Also present were a host of civil and ecclesiastical authorities, doctors, relations of the saint, and others among the faithful. Included was the Minister General of the Order of the Capuchin Friars Minor, Fr. Mauro Johri. The block of Labrador granite had been removed previously, but there were still four reinforced concrete slabs in place over the coffin on March 2.

On Feb. 28, when the granite block was removed, the members of the ecclesiastical tribunal who were present took an "oath of faith’ over the Bible, concerning the procedures that they would witness. Then five people present at the original 1968 burial of the saint took a formal oath that the tomb was in the same condition as they had left it.

Subsequently on March 2, the four concrete slabs protecting the coffin were removed in the presence of scores of onlookers, with the process documented by TV and photographic equipment. A steel plate covering the coffin was also removed. Strong ropes and pulleys had to be employed to raise the coffin to floor level. The Friary’s magazine reports that: " . . . the Archbishop who, assisted by the Promoter of Justice and by the Registered Notary, after checking that they were intact, broke the seals that had been made the evening of 26 September 1968." Solderers then were summoned in order to cut the edges of the zinc case.

Following this, the Archbishop and a commission of five medical experts inspected the body, including the medical Director of Padre Pio’s hospital "The Home for the Relief of Suffering," Dr. Luigi Pacilli, and Dr. Michele Bisceglia, representing the Holy See.

In the light of this well-documented and highly visible process, how could anyone reasonably assert that somehow another body was surreptitiously placed in "the empty coffin?" Yet there are some who still insist (in private emails that are circulating) that the original empty tomb story is true, and thus they are forced to propose a Padre Pio "double." Are they then implying that some or all of the many high Church officials and respected medical professionals involved in the 2008 exhumation process are perpetrators of a gigantic hoax? The apocryphal tale of the empty tomb of Padre Pio only reinforces a regrettable image of fanaticism surrounding the life, and even the death, of one of the greatest saints in history.