And in today's story, we're going to look at this fellow called Dr. Luigi Pancaro.
And he was having very serious doubts against Padre Pio, but it ended up escalating to doubts
against faith in itself, to the pillars against the pillars of our faith.
So why didn't Padre Pio simply intervene in this, we may ask?
Hello friends, and welcome to our channel, Following Padre Pio, in which we present a
series of short stories.
We present the life of Padre Pio.
He was a Capuchin friar, he was a mystic, a tremendous miracle worker.
He's one of our great saints.
So, do stay tuned to find out more about Padre Pio and also to see what Padre Pio's intercession
could do for you.
We encourage everyone to be part of this Padre Pio apostolate.
Help us by liking the video and sharing the video with your friends and colleagues.
And also, we have a Mass every Friday, which is dedicated to Padre Pio.
And if you enroll your intentions, then we'll bring them to this Mass for Padre Pio.
So please, just watch the end screen for exactly how to do that.
Now, Dr. Luigi Pancaro, he was one of the doctors who worked there at Padre Pio's hospital,
which is called the Home for the Relief of Suffering.
And Dr. Pancaro was a practicing Catholic.
In fact, he would attend the Angelus and various other prayers every day in Padre Pio's monastery,
Our Lady of Graces.
And, of course, Dr. Pancaro had heard many amazing stories about Padre Pio, about Padre
Pio's gifts.
And a number of people would just continue to tell him how they had been miraculously
healed by Padre Pio.
And he heard of other gifts how Padre Pio could read the souls of people.
All of these gifts, but in his heart, Dr. Luigi Pancaro, he harbored very strong doubts
about all of these things, and he said they simply cannot be true.
He would reason, he's a doctor, and he would reason like this because if these things,
if these astonishing things that I hear about Padre Pio if they are actually true, then
why does he not simply remove these very strong doubts that I have in my mind?
But these doubts, they held, they remained, they would not leave him.
Dr. Pancaro worked there, as we said in the Hospital Casa Sollievo, and he actually held
Padre Pio in the very highest esteem.
He admired Padre Pio's great acts of mercy, of piety, mercy on the poor and the suffering.
But Dr. Pancaro, he always remained skeptical about the rest.
And then, along came May the 28th, 1958, and this was to be a very important day for the
Pancaro family because Dr. Pancaro's daughter, Caroline, was to be married right there in
Padre Pio's church, the monastery, Our Lady of Graces by Padre Pio himself.
So, Padre Pio was performing the wedding ceremony.
And the entire Pancaro family, they gathered together to attend Padre Pio's Mass.
His 5:00 AM Mass.
They're all there.
During this Mass, Dr. Pancaro's mind just seemed to be filled with even greater doubts.
He's even worse than before.
And he was filled with all sorts of doubts about other things on the Catholic Church,
Catholic teachings.
He started to doubt the Eucharist, and transubstantiation.
And to Dr. Pancaro at a certain point, this whole theology just seemed ridiculous.
He made an effort to banish these things, to push them out of his mind, but he could
not, he was not able to.
So, have we ever been through something like this where we let little doubts build up into
something much, much worse.
And then when Mass was over, Dr. Pancaro went to greet Padre Pio, and as was the custom
in those days, they would kiss the hand of the priest as a sign of respect for the priesthood.
But Padre Pio would not allow this.
And then Padre Pio whispered in Dr. Pancaro's ear, "My son, what bad thoughts you had at
mass?
When are you going to stop thinking like that?"
So let's just stop and think for a moment.
Now, Padre Pio's facing the altar, together with the whole congregation, everyone facing
our Lord on the altar.
He couldn't see who was in the church even.
But he was able to read the soul of this person somewhere in the church, without even seeing
him.
The following day, an opportunity arose now for Dr. Luigi Pancaro to go and speak to Padre
Pio.
And then Padre Pio said to him, "Now listen, listen to me carefully.
I am not at all offended by what you think of me, but to doubt the great mystery of the
transubstantiation, it is the greatest offense that you can commit against God."
And then Padre Pio continued looking into Pancaro's eyes, into Dr. Pancaro's eyes, and
then said, "And now, are you convinced?"
So we must remember what Dr. Pancaro's objection was before.
If these things are true about Padre Pio, then why doesn't he simply remove the doubts?
And it seems now that Padre Pio had read his mind about these doubts.
And so with that, Padre Pio telling Pancaro the thoughts that he had long harbored within
his heart.
With that, Dr. Pancaro was convinced both about God himself and also about Padre Pio
about his gifts.
And please do join us next time on this channel for another story about Padre Pio.
Let's pray that it's going to be a very inspirational story to everyone so that we can all make
it through these difficult days.
We also encourage everyone, if you're not already, then do subscribe to our channel,
click that subscribe button just below, and also you'll have to click that reminder bell
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