ST. PIO

The pathologist Amico Bignami conducted a medical examination of Father Pio's wounds in 1919 and concluded that it was a skin necrosis that was hindered from healing by chemicals such as iodine tincture

A psychiatric examination was conducted by the psychiatrist, Franciscan priest Agostino Gemelli in 1920. He came to the conclusion that Francesco Forgione was a man of "restricted field of knowledge, low psychic energy, monotonous ideas, little volition." [42] Gemelli critically judged Pio: "The case is one of suggestion unconsciously planted by Father Benedetto in the weak mind of Padre Pio, producing those characteristic manifestations of psittacism that are intrinsic to the hysteric mind."[43]



On behalf of the Holy Office, Gemelli re-examined Father Pio in 1925, writing a report in April 1926. This time he let Pio show him the wounds. Gemelli saw as its cause the use of a corrosive substance. Pio had attached himself to these wounds. The Jesuit Festa had previously tried to question Gemelli's comments on stigmata in general.[44] Gemelli responded to this criticism in his report and resorted to responding to his knowledge of self-inflicted wounds. He therefore clarified his statements about the nature of Pio's wounds: "Anyone with experience in forensic medicine, and above all in variety by sores and wounds that self-destructive soldiers were presented during the war, can have no doubt that these were wounds of erosion caused by the use of a caustic substance. The base of the sore and its shape are in every way similar to the sores observed in soldiers who procured them with chemical means."[45]



Once again, Gemelli judged Father Pio's mental abilities as limited: "He [Pio] is the ideal partner with whom former Minister Provincial Father Benedetto is able to create an incubus-succubus pair ... He is a good priest: calm, quiet, meek, more because of the mental deficiency than out of virtue. A poor soul, able to repeat a few stereotypical religious phrases, a poor, sick man who has learned his lesson from his master, Father Benedetto."[46] Gemelli wrote in 1940 and later several times to the Holy Office on what he considers to be unjustified claims to the sanctity of Father Pio.[47]

So again, an explanation is possible. It's just not the one you want to hear.