Question about Padre Pio

[ellzeena]

An acquaintance sent me a You Tube link (yeah, I know lol) about a letter supposedly written by Padre Pio regarding the “last three days” or some such thing. I have heard and read many conflicting things about Padre Pio and am aware that he has been canonized. He was alive when I was a kid and I remember there was a combination of skepticism toward him and awe of him in the people I knew at the time.

I “googled” the veracity of that letter and came up with the following link (among others):
csicop.org/si/show/padre_pio_scandals_of_a_saint/

I have so many mixed feelings about this and all of the doomsday stuff attributed to him that I decided to ask you (this forum) your conclusions about him and what you know to be true or not true. I thank you in advance for your assistance.

 

[freshwind]

found this from 2004…

According to James J. Drummey in “Catholic Answers 2”:

Padre Pio’s name was connected with this prophecy in the late 1940s by the Council of Heroldsbach, a group in Germany that was formed after some children claimed that the Blessed Mother had appeared to them. The Council composed a letter about the three days of darkness and forged Padre Pio’s name to it. The letter was declared a forgery in 1950 by Padre Pio’s superior in San Giovanni Rotondo. In 1951, the Vatican’s Holy Office, without mentioning Padre Pio by name, stated that the alleged appearances of the Blessed Virgin in Heroldsbach were not supernatural…

 

[Glomung]

To put it bluntly, the “3 days of darkness” stuff is pure bunkum.

There may well be 3 days of darkness, in some places, after some perfectly natural events (volcanic eruptions can do this), but the rest falls into superstition.

It would be a bit abitrary, don’t you think, for God to kill folks for looking out the window.

 

[tabycat]

An acquaintance sent me a You Tube link (yeah, I know lol) about a letter supposedly written by Padre Pio regarding the “last three days” or some such thing. I have heard and read many conflicting things about Padre Pio and am aware that he has been canonized. He was alive when I was a kid and I remember there was a combination of skepticism toward him and awe of him in the people I knew at the time.

I “googled” the veracity of that letter and came up with the following link (among others):
csicop.org/si/show/padre_pio_scandals_of_a_saint/

I have so many mixed feelings about this and all of the doomsday stuff attributed to him that I decided to ask you (this forum) your conclusions about him and what you know to be true or not true. I thank you in advance for your assistance.

Slightly off topic, csicop (and Joe Nickoll) is not a realable source, in my opinion.

 

[7armyrugrats]

To put it bluntly, the “3 days of darkness” stuff is pure bunkum.

There may well be 3 days of darkness, in some places, after some perfectly natural events (volcanic eruptions can do this), but the rest falls into superstition.

It would be a bit abitrary, don’t you think, for God to kill folks for looking out the window.

I know nothing about the three days of darkness or any other doomsday prophesies. I don’t follow those things and I’m not sure what they mean. However, why do you think God wouldn’t “kill someone for looking out a window?” If He told us what to do and we choose to do otherwise, I believe He would. Look at Lot’s wife. Look at the Passover, or any of the plagues. Simple acts that He told those involved to follow, and the ones who didn’t were punished, for lack of a better word.

 

[CB_Catholic]

I know nothing about the three days of darkness or any other doomsday prophesies. I don’t follow those things and I’m not sure what they mean. However, why do you think God wouldn’t “kill someone for looking out a window?” If He told us what to do and we choose to do otherwise, I believe He would. Look at Lot’s wife. Look at the Passover, or any of the plagues. Simple acts that He told those involved to follow, and the ones who didn’t were punished, for lack of a better word.

Yes, but those things are part of Divine Revelation since they come from Sacred Scripture. The other stuff is from private revelation, which is not binding on anyone, and is not even part of Sacred Tradition. Why would God make such a pronouncement for the world when it cannot be enforced, since the Church cannot pronounce anything from private revelation as binding, unless it has already been revealed publicly (such as the need for repentance, to trust in God’s mercy, etc). And public revelation ended with the death of the last apostle.

 

[ellzeena]

To put it bluntly, the “3 days of darkness” stuff is pure bunkum.

There may well be 3 days of darkness, in some places, after some perfectly natural events (volcanic eruptions can do this), but the rest falls into superstition.

It would be a bit abitrary, don’t you think, for God to kill folks for looking out the window.

LOL!!! YES it certainly would thanks you made really laugh out loud!

 

[ellzeena]

Slightly off topic, csicop (and Joe Nickoll) is not a realable source, in my opinion.

Oh I do so agree, it was just the most extreme response. I figure you start out with the most extreme response and work backward and sooner or later you get to some kernel of truth lol.

 

[7armyrugrats]

Yes, but those things are part of Divine Revelation since they come from Sacred Scripture. The other stuff is from private revelation, which is not binding on anyone, and is not even part of Sacred Tradition. Why would God make such a pronouncement for the world when it cannot be enforced, since the Church cannot pronounce anything from private revelation as binding, unless it has already been revealed publicly (such as the need for repentance, to trust in God’s mercy, etc). And public revelation ended with the death of the last apostle.

Ok, I see your point. Like I said, I know nothing about any of that and had never even heard of the three days of darkness. Thank you for explaining.

 

[Holly3278]

I was actually thinking about the Three Days of Darkness this morning. I had read on a couple of sites that supposedly several saints had prophesied it. Saint Faustina’s diary does appear to mention the Three Days of Darkness but then again that passage may not even mean that there’s going to be Three Days of Darkness where if you look out the windows you’ll be killed etc.

Anyway, I had been believing that there would be Three Days of Darkness but this morning I was thinking and I realized that it is private revelation and therefore may or may not happen. So rather than believing in it anymore I have decided to simply take the position that it might happen and it might not happen and that there is no need to worry about it.