Catholics have always had a strange obsession with their beloved saints. In my own city, the mummified heart of St. Joseph hangs quietly in a corner. It’s usually ignored by tourists who consider it far too macabre to be photographed. This recent stunt in Italy, however, breaks the standard conventions of good taste as the decayed body of St. Padre Pio of Pietreclina is being exhumed and displayed to the general public.

For those of you not in the know, St. Padre Pio was famous back in the day for his reoccurring stigmata; the supposed appearance of wounds similar to those Jesus received while hung up on the cross. It’s a fairly easy scam to perpetuate, especially when your adoring public is more than willing to buy into it.

We’ll ignore the whole stigmata thing for now (I plan on doing a podcast about the subject eventually anyways), and focus on the fact people are actually interested in seeing the half decayed corpse of a man that died over 40 years ago. Here’s an amusing quote that should turn your stomachs:

“Nevertheless, in spite of all of this [the corpse being deemed to be in good condition], we can say that the upper portion, we refer to the face, is partially skeletal, as well as the upper limbs. Though the rest is very visible, the hands are very clear. The technicians have said that a sort of auto-mummification process has begun in some parts of the body.

Wow, and some misguided fools think Disneyland is the place for a good vacation. Where can I sign up to see the half eaten corpse? If it’s any consolation to you die hard skeptics, it seems the body failed to show any signs of stigmata. Hard for something that was never there in the first place to be found, isn’t it?