CASALBA, Italy (LifeSiteNews) — A priest’s testimony about a weeping statue of St. Pio of Pietrelcina has attracted attention to a tiny Italian hamlet 25 miles north of Naples.
Father Girolano Capuano, the parish priest of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Casalba, Macerata Campania, was recently interviewed by multiple mainstream Italian media outlets about his discovery of “a bloody tear” on the statue of Padre Pio at the entrance of the church.
According to Fr. Capuano, he was first alerted to the phenomenon on April 18 when a parishioner told him that there was a “stain” on the left cheek of the statue. As the statue was high up on an outdoor plinth, the priest tried to remove the mark with a broom. Having failed, he returned the next day with a ladder and a cloth to try to wipe the stain away. That is when he discovered that the reddish mark on the fiberglass statue, which he could not erase, resembled a tear of blood.
Capuano said on Mediaset’s “Mattino Cinque” program that he is convinced the tear stain is “a genuine sign from God.”
“What convinces me most is that we have a camera that has been monitoring the statue day and night for over 10 years. I have personally examined all the recordings from 1 to 30 April. The tear appeared on the 18th, or at least that was when we noticed it. No one approached the statue, either by day or by night, to do anything. This strengthens my personal conviction and my faith in Padre Pio,” he said.
On April 20, Fr. Capuano informed his ordinary, Bishop Pietro Lagnese of Capua, and the statue has been taken away for further investigation, notably to test the “tear” for hemoglobin. According to EWTN Italia, Bishop Lagnese is expected to make a report to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on the findings.
EWTN Italia cautions that rumors swept the same area in 2015 about a crying statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary; the cause of the phenomenon was determined to be rain damage.
Padre Pio, or St. Pio of Pietrelcina, 1887-1968, was an Italian Capuchin friar who bore the stigmata, or wounds, of Christ. He was famous also for his supernatural gifts as a confessor. Canonized in 2002 by Pope John Paul II, he endures as one of Italy’s favorite saints.