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PHOTOS: Foundation releases never-before-seen images of Padre Pio

April 10, 2024 Catholic News Agency 1
To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of Padre Pio. The candid images include scenes of the Italian priest celebrating Mass and deep in prayer. The foundation’s director, Luciano Lamonarca, discovered the photos when visiting photographer Elia Saleto’s studio. / Credit: Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation

CNA Staff, Apr 10, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, better known as Padre Pio.

To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of Padre Pio. The foundation’s director, Luciano Lamonarca, discovered the photos when visiting photographer Elia Saleto's studio. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation.
To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of Padre Pio. The foundation’s director, Luciano Lamonarca, discovered the photos when visiting photographer Elia Saleto’s studio. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation.

The candid images show the Italian priest celebrating Mass and deep in prayer but also in lighter moments of laughter, rarely captured of the friar. The foundation’s director, Luciano Lamonarca, discovered the photos when visiting photographer Elia Saleto’s studio.

To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of Padre Pio. The candid images show the Italian priest celebrating Mass and deep in prayer, but also in lighter moments of laughter. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation
To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of Padre Pio. The candid images show the Italian priest celebrating Mass and deep in prayer, but also in lighter moments of laughter. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation

EWTN News Vatican correspondent Colm Flynn sat down with Lamonarca in a recent interview for “EWTN News Nightly” to discuss the images. One of the most surprising photos was of Padre Pio smiling. 

“One is nice because [it shows everybody] hey, Padre Pio is smiling. Yes, he was smiling because he was a man. So we always think that Padre Pio was a serious man. We know that faith is also about laughing … sometimes,” Lamonarca said.

To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of Padre Pio. The candid images show the Italian priest celebrating Mass and deep in prayer but also in lighter moments of laughter, rarely captured of the friar. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation
To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of Padre Pio. The candid images show the Italian priest celebrating Mass and deep in prayer but also in lighter moments of laughter, rarely captured of the friar. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation

The professional opera singer grew up in Italy aware of the giant figure that Padre Pio was in the Catholic Church but didn’t have a particular devotion to the saint until he and his wife faced the great suffering of having a stillborn baby and receiving the news that they would probably not be able to have more children. 

To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of Padre Pio. This one took place during a liturgy. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation
To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of Padre Pio. This one took place during a liturgy. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation

It was then that the couple turned to Padre Pio’s intercession and, in the process, began to learn more about his life. 

Lamonarca said he learned about Padre Pio’s “simplicity and humility.” 

“He was the grandfather I never had,” he told Flynn.

To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of Padre Pio. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation
To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of Padre Pio. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation

Lamonarca said he felt such a connection to the saintly friar that he wanted to help bring his story and message to as many people as possible — especially in the United States — so he founded the St. Pio Foundation.

To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of Padre Pio. The foundation’s director, Luciano Lamonarca, discovered the photos when visiting photographer Elia Saleto's studio. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation
To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of Padre Pio. The foundation’s director, Luciano Lamonarca, discovered the photos when visiting photographer Elia Saleto’s studio. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation

Today Lamonarca and his wife live in the United States with their son, Sebastian, who was born the year after Lamonarca founded the foundation. As an Italian living in the U.S., he is passionate about strengthening the ties between the two countries in the name of St. Pio.

In addition to the release of the photos to celebrate its 10th anniversary, the foundation has also produced a documentary drama about Padre Pio, which will air on EWTN later this year.

A flyer advertising the upcoming docudrama "Saint Pio of Pietrelcina" about the life of Padre Pio, which will be released in September 2024 by the St. Pio Foundation. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation
A flyer advertising the upcoming docudrama “Saint Pio of Pietrelcina” about the life of Padre Pio, which will be released in September 2024 by the St. Pio Foundation. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation

The full interview with Lamonarca on “EWTN News Nightly” can be viewed below.

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Why go on a spiritual retreat?

April 6, 2024 Catholic News Agency 0

“A retreat is a moment of prolonged personal encounter, without distractions, with God, and in God, with oneself," says Father Guillermo Serra. / Credit: Shutterstock

ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 6, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).
Four Catholic priests sh… […]

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French court sentences Cardinal Ouellet, religious community to fines after expelling nun

April 5, 2024 Catholic News Agency 1
Cardinal Marc Ouellet takes part in the Pontifical Council for Culture’s Plenary Assembly on Women’s Cultures in Rome on Feb. 6, 2015. / Bohumil Petrik/CNA.

CNA Newsroom, Apr 5, 2024 / 13:10 pm (CNA).

A French court in Lorient, in Brittany, on Wednesday fined Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, PSS; the Dominican Sisters of the Holy Spirit in Pontcallec; and two apostolic visitors, Jean-Charles Nault and Maylis Desjobert, for the wrongful dismissal of Sabine Baudin de la Valette, whose religious name was Mother Marie Ferréol, according to LaCroix International.

Baudin de la Valette, 57, had reportedly lived in the monastery since 1987 without any significant incidents and then in 2011 denounced “serious abuses and facts” happening in the community. The situation then escalated, her lawyer said.

After 34 years of religious life, Baudin de la Valette was dismissed from her community in October 2020 after a visit from Ouellet. It was never made public what exactly the Vatican accused her of, and a complaint to Pope Francis against her dismissal was unsuccessful, according to The Tablet, which reported that the former sister said the dismissal decree “accused her of having an evil spirit but gave no concrete reasons.”

The French court has now said that the dismissal decree signed by Ouellet is not legally binding.

According to the court’s ruling, “in canon law, as in civil law, anyone who claims to be delegated must prove his delegation.” However, Ouellet did not present a specific mandate from the pope and was therefore not authorized to execute decrees of dismissal in a religious order. All decrees were signed by the cardinal or his secretary.

The court also said it was “surprised” that Ouellet “did not resign in his capacity as a close friend of one of the sisters of the Institute of the Dominican Sisters of the Holy Spirit.”

The court accused the religious community, among other things, of not correctly following the dismissal procedure. There was no prior warning and no reason for the dismissal from the community.

In addition, the court said, the community breached its duty of care when dismissing Baudin de la Valette, who was not offered any financial compensation that would have enabled her to “enjoy appropriate civil living conditions after 34 years of religious life and service to her community in the spirit of justice and charity as set out in canon law.”

With regard to the two apostolic visitors Nault and Desjobert, the court found that Nault had “impaired the exercise of the fundamental rights of the defense.” Every person, regardless of status, has “the right to know the exact nature of the acts they are accused of before being sentenced.”

“The visitors were not authorized to ignore the rules of canon law and general legal principles,” the court said.

After the verdict was announced, the attorneys for the Dominican Sisters and the apostolic visitors immediately announced they would appeal the decision. 

This article was originally published in CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, and has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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