The Strange Case of the Vanishing Stigmata.

Well now, what do Padre Pio and Christine Gallagher have in common?
Neither of them appear to suffer from 'stigmata'.
From today's UK independent.

"The tomb was opened just after midnight, in the bitter cold. The Vatican did not want too many people around as it exhumed Padre Pio, a man whose millions of followers say he could foresee the future and be in two places at once. "As soon as we got inside we could clearly make out the beard," said Domenico D'Ambrosio, the archbishop who led the ceremony early on Monday morning. "The top part of the skull is partly skeletal, but the chin is perfect and the rest of the body is well preserved."

The feet were bare, as is the tradition for Capuchin monks. There was, however, a problem – a big one – for the clerics and medical experts peering at the body: no stigmata.

Neither his feet nor his hands showed any sign of the wounds expected of a man who the church says bled as Christ did on the cross – spontaneously and without cause, on and off for more than 50 years. Was this, as sceptics immediately claimed, proof that Padre Pio was a fake?

He died in 1968, aged 81, but the bleeding (and miracles recorded in his name) led to the monk being made a saint six years ago. One author has suggested he was a self-harmer who used carbolic acid to create the wounds, but after years of scorning him the Vatican now insists they were not caused by "external forces".
Born Francesco Forgione in a small town near Naples in 1887, he joined the Capuchin order and took a name that means "pious" in Italian. The wounds started to appear when he was 23, but their nature – and the cult that grew up around him – alarmed the Catholic authorities. Padre Pio was banned from celebrating mass in public; but one of those who made a pilgrimage to Foggia for confession with him was a young Pole who became Pope John Paul II – and who made Padre Pio a saint.

His image can be seen in windows and on vehicles throughout Italy. Seven million people a year visit his tomb at the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in San Giovanni Rotondo, near the friary where he lived.

The body will be put on display for several months from April – even after Domenico D'Ambrosio was forced to say, after examining the body again in daylight on Monday: "The signs of the stigmata were not visible." And so the strange case of Padre Pio, closed on the authority of the last Pope, has been reopened along with his tomb."

I'd super like to say I'm surprised by this, but I am not. I am never bought into the cult of Pio, despite my paternal Grandmother's insistence that he be revered. Oh no, hand bleeding, even as a child struck me a absolutely the easiest sleight to pull off.
I am not surprised there is not a shred of evidence for this religious hokum, I am not that surprised when frauds, be they from this era or before, are exposed. I'm only irked at how long frauds can expect to get away with conning people and scamming them and hiding out in large mansions.
If Ppadre Pio didn't in fact have stigmata where does that leave Christine Gallagher and her bloody bloodiness? Isn't stigmata one of the 'sufferings' she endures while buying up real estate in America and Mexico, like our lady wanted, right Chrissie? Bank rolled by the devoted and the faithful and those seeking eternal life, which naturally Christine offers.

“Those who come to My House properly disposed will receive the graces of Solace and
Eternal Life….” (message of July 16, 2001)"

Ye-ah. And the Gallagher chain of prayer houses rolls ever onwards. there must be something to stigmata and suffering because even Jesus is getting in on the act. Apparently Christine, no wait, Jesus, felt Christine's Texas prayer house wasn't receiving enough funds. So he spoke out about it, through Christine's pet priest and side kick, Father McGinnity.

“Jesus said 'Father McGinnity is to tell the people that if the House of Prayer in Texas is not free of debt in the 9th month (the end of the month) of this year it is to be dissolved. Nothing is to be touched or taken from it and those leaving are to shake the dust from their feet. The greater part of that State will be leveled and torn to shreds. Those in a position to respond and bring the House to fruition have persevered in mocking Me and withholding the means of completing it. The world is in great danger and My message is disregarded. The people do not recognize the danger they are in.' ” (message of July 18th, 2006)

Golly.

Stigmata, or the lack of stigmata, the show must go, step right up ladies and gentlemen, step right, up, see what you want to see, hear what you want to hear and pay, pay as you've never paid before.