Remains of Padre Pio will be venerated at Vatican basilica for Ash Wednesday in Jubilee Year

August 03, 2015

The remains of Padre Pio will be exposed for veneration in St. Peter’s basilica in February 2016, as Lent begins the Jubilee of Mercy.

Pope Francis made a special request for the reliquary containing the remains of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, to be displayed in the Vatican basilica from February 8 to 14.

On February 10, which will be Ash Wednesday, Pope Francis will commission “missionaries of mercy,” Archbishop Rino Fisichella has revealed. These missionaries will have “a special mandate to preach and confess, so that they may be a living sign of how the Father welcomes all those who seek his pardon.”

Archbishop Fisichella—who, as president of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, has been given primary responsibility for organizing the events of the Jubilee Year—said that the relics of Padre Pio would offer a model and inspiration for the missionaries and for all Christians seeking to spread the message of the Year of Mercy.

 

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Further information:

• Reliquary of St. Pio of Pietrelcina in St. Peter’s for Jubilee Ash Wednesday (Vatican Radio)