# 36 OF 45 - THIS HAPPY BOOK REPORT ON PADRE PIO

# 36 OF 45 - THIS HAPPY BOOK REPORT ON PADRE PIO

IN PURSUIT OF THE TRUTH - HTTP://WWW.CINOPSBEGONEBLOGSPOT.COM THURS. DEC. 26/19

Chapter 15 - The Friar and the Archbishop - 185-188 - cont'd

"Although Gagliardi was never formally accused of homosexuality, there were numerous complaints that he showed a preference for priests who had been convicted of this vice. In a report made to the Vatican in 1927, it was alleged that Gagliardi refused to remove from his assignment as arch-priest Carpino convicted of sodomy in both the lower and appellate courts,and agreed to remove the man only when the priest was actually jailed.... It was further alleged that Gagliardi accepted expensive gifts from homosexual priests who received coveted appointments...

"Nevertheless, it was shortly after this that Gagliardi, in Agostino's words, 'began a sordid war" against Padre Pio, forwarding "countless letters full of accusations, exaggerations, libels - a true satanic war." Gagliardi wrote to the pope about Padre Pio's "horrible means of hearing confessions."... he could have been concerned with Pio's occasional impatience and by his tendency, occasionally, to dismiss without absolution those he believed impenitent. Nonetheless, the exact motivation behind the archbishop's "satanic war" is hard to fathom.

"Certainly, by the 1920s, however gifted and promising he had been in earlier years, Gagliardi, whether through mental instability, substance abuse, or sheer satanic perversity, was increasingly guilty of conduct unbecoming to a churchman....

Gagliardi was at the time celebrating Mass in a side chapel. A crowd of six hundred men, women, and children burst in on him and pelted him with stones and bricks. Despite the fact that the prelate was saying Mass, the mob charged the altar, grabbed his missal and paten, threw them at him, knocked him to the floor, and began to punch and kick him, until several priests intervened to drag the archbishop into an adjoining room, slamming the door against the raging mob....

"Although Padre Pio and his followers had absolutely nothing to do withe the Vieste riot, it is possible that Gagliardi associated him with the superstitious that had nearly led to his death or mutilation. The fact is that he continued to complain about the charismatic Capuchin to the Vatican. As long Pope Benedict lived, however, he did not get very far, for the pontiff, as we have seen, informed by reliable churchmen, stood firmly behind Padre Pio.

Chapter 16 - The Satanic War  p. 189-190

    
 "The situation changed dramatically for Padre Pio when Pope Benedict died unexpectedly after a brief siege of pneumonia in January 1922, at the early (for a pope) age of sixty-seven. Elected as his successor was the archbishop of Milan, sixty-five-year-old Achille Ratti, the son of a textile worker, who took the name Pius XI... Too busy to look into the Padre Pio case, the pontiff decided to rely upon trusted aides to learn of the character and ministry of Padre Pio and to form a judgment on the growing concerning him. Unfortunately, among those upon whom Pius relied were Agostino Gemelli and Pasquale Gagliardi. ...

  
  "According to Gagliardi, Padre Pio was more than a misguided, undereducated, superstitious backwoods friar; he was a demoniac. Gagliardi went to far as to denounce Padre Pio to the bishops and archbishops of the Congregation, which regulated all matters concerning the government of diocese. He insisted: Padre Pio is demon-possessed. I declare to you that he has a devil and the friars of San Giovanni Rotondo are a band of thieves. With my own eyes I saw Padre Pio perfume himself and put makeup on his face! All this I swear on my pectoral cross!"....

   
 "Padre Pio had at least one friend at the meeting, Bishop Alberto Valbonesi, the Vatican canon who held the titular see of Memphis and who had visited San Giovanni a few years before. He was thoroughly disgusted with Gagliardi and wrote to Padre Pio, Pio's provincial, detailing the archbishop's charges...

George H. Kubeck, "In today's Hollywood's culture, our nation experiences the demonic daily"