During 2022 the Church celebrates twenty years since Pope Saint John Paul II canonised Padre Pio (1887 – 1968) as Saint Pio of Pietrelcina. In Ireland the faithful have always had a special devotion to Padre Pio, including thousands attending each year on pilgrimage to San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, where the Capuchin monk ministered for decades. In 1910, the year he became a priest, Padre Pio received for the first time the stigmata, the bodily marks corresponding to the wounds suffered by the crucified Jesus.
To mark this anniversary, the Diocese of Down and Connor has arranged for the relics of Saint Padre Pio to be brought to Saint Peter’s Cathedral, Belfast; All Saints’ Church, Ballymena, and Saint Patrick’s Church, Downpatrick from 6 – 11 November, for veneration by the faithful.
