Padre Pio

Images of holiness: Padre Pio

Here is a photo of my favorite Bad Saint, Padre Pio. He faked his stigmata with chemicals, laundered money in the black market of Nazi-occupied Paris, and philandered his way to becoming the number one Christian saint in Italy. Some say he’s more popular than Jesus, but I think that’s just latent anti-Semitism.

Is Santa Claus Really the Pope All Dressed Up in Red?

Madeleine Johnson, my colleague at The American, has a brilliant satire on the Italian citizenship quiz. Of course, I challenge anyone to guess whether she made this up or not. That’s what’s brilliant–it just might be true.

— Which of the following is known to cause cancer among Italians?

•a. Drafts;

•b. Indigestion;

•c. Not wearing a woolen undershirt;

•d. Smoking.

 

— Padre Pio is:

•a. The center of a lucrative cult that aims to defraud and delude the credulous;

•b. The priest who administered the last rites to Elvis Presley;

•c. A saint whose good works and popularity has attracted envy and hostility from the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy;

•d. The patron saint of taxi drivers.