Exhumed body of saint goes on display
ROME, Italy (AP) -- The body of Padre Pio, a hugely popular Italian saint, will go on public display starting Thursday, with thousands expected to visit and pray to the mystic monk whom many Catholic faithful believe bore the signs of Jesus' crucifixion.
Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, head of the Vatican's sainthood office, lead an open-air Mass before thousands of faithful before the unveiling of the saint's body in a church in San Giovanni Rotondo, where he lived.
This body is here, but Padre Pio is not only a corpse. Looking at his remains we remember all the good that he has made
The Capuchin monk, who had an enormous following in Italy and abroad, died in 1968 after living for decades with inexplicable, bleeding wounds on his hands and feet, like the wounds Jesus suffered at crucifixion.
Pope John Paul II made him a saint in 2002.
Church officials exhumed the body so the faithful could pray before it
the 40th anniversary of his death
clipped from: www.cnn.com 