At this point it would be very beautiful to make heard in some way the reasons for which not a few scientists positively affirm the existence of God, and to see by what personal relationship with God, with man, and with the great problems and supreme values of life they are sustained. How often silence. meditation, creative imagination, serene detachment from material things, the social significance of discovery and purity of heart are factors which open to them a world of meaning which cannot be disregarded by anyone who proceeds with equal faithfulness and love towards the truth.
May a reference to an Italian scientist, Enrico Medi, a few years deceased, be sufficient. At the International Cathechetical Congress of Rome in 1971 he affirmed: “When I tell a young person: Look, there is a new star, a galaxy, a neutron star 100 million light-years away, yet the protons, electrons; neutrons and mesons which are found there are identical with those which are found in this microphone… Identity excludes probability. That which is identical is not probable… Therefore there is a cause, outside of space, outside of time, the master of being, which made being to be in this way. And this is God…
The being -I am speaking scientifically- which has caused things to be identical at a distance of billions of light-years, exists. And the number of identical particles in the universe is 10 raised to the 85th power… Do we wish then to take in the song of the Galaxies? If I were Francis of Assisi I would say: O Galaxies of the immense heavens, give praise to my Lord, for he is omnipotent and good. O atoms, O protons, O electrons, O bird-songs, O blowing of the leaves and of the air, in the hands of man as a prayer, sing out the hymn which returns to God!” (Acts of the Second International Catechetical Congress. Rome, 20-25 September 1971, Rome, Studium, 1972 pp. 449-450).
After the Mass the next day, Father Luna and Professor Medi met with the stigmatist in the sacristy.
Enrico Medi Second From Right With Padre Pio Second From Left
[Professor Enrico Medi, former Vice President of the European Atomic Energy Community was not the Pope‘s physician but a personal friend. His cause for beatification has been accepted by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and he is now called Servant of God. During Conchita’s visit to Rome she also made an excursion to see Padre Pio, a trip that was suggested and arranged by Professor Medi.] and called to him: “Professor, Professor.” Then he told the bearers of the chair “Fermi Tutti,” meaning that they lower the chair and leave him. The Pope was now alone with this little group (Professor Medi, Conchita, her mother, and Father Luna). An unscheduled papal audience — stupendous!
When the priest told Padre Pio that the Princess from Spain was there to see him, Padre Pio replied, “I don’t feel very well and won’t be able to see her until later in the day.” Then Professor Medi said to him, “There is another lady who wants to see you. Conchita wants to see you.”
Padre Pio asked, “Conchita of Garabandal?” The professor answered “yes.” Padre Pio said, “Come at eight o’clock this morning.”
“When we arrived,” Conchita would recount later, “we were brought into a small room, a cell, which had one bed, a chair, and a small table. I ask Padre Pio if this were his room or whether he slept here or not, and he replied, ‘Oh no, you cannot see my room. This is a rich room.’ At the time I did not realize what a holy man Padre Pio was, as I know him to be now. I was very young at the time. I was only 16.”
The only ones with Conchita were her mother, Father Luna, and a priest from Padre Pio’s monastery who spoke Spanish and was taking alot of pictures. The priest then asked Padre Pio if he could take his picture, and the stigmatist replied, “You have been taking them since you came in.”
Conchita had a crucifix kissed by Our Lady with her, and she told Padre Pio what it was, and asked him to bless it. He took the crucifix from her and placed it in his left hand, over the Stigmata.
Then he took Conchita’s hand and placed it on top of the crucifix in his palm, and then he closed his fingers over her hand. With his right hand he blessed first Conchita’s hand, and then the crucifix.
He did the same thing for Aniceta Gonzalez, Conchita’s mother, who brought her rosary kissed by the Virgin. The photographs taken by the priest are still at the monastery, the friars reluctant to make them public because Garabandal is not recognized by the Church yet.
Nevertheless these photos are important documents that verify Conchita’s meeting with Padre Pio. Although Padre Pio is going to be canonized this summer
Pope John Paul II
by Pope John Paul II, the photographs are still not expected to be made public until after the Church approves the apparitions, or at least not until after the Warning and the Miracle have taken place.
When Conchita found out Padre Pio died in Sept. 1968, she met his close friend, Father Bernardino Cennamo, at Lourdes, and asked him, “How is it that Our Lady told me Padre Pio would see the Miracle and he has died?” Father Cenammo responded, “Padre Pio saw the Miracle before he died. He told me himself.”
The priest gave Conchita one of the three veils that covered Padre Pio’s face during his wake, saying that the stigmatist had requested this before he died. He told her truthfully that he personally did not believe in the authenticity of Garabandal until Padre Pio requested this of him. Conchita also was given Padre Pio’s rosary, and one of the gloves he wore, stained by his stigmata. She has these treasures preserved at her home in New York.
Padre Pio never ceased recommending pilgrims who asked him about Garabandal, to make a visit there. He told Joey Lomangino, (the next most significant individual in the story of the apparitions after the visionaries) that yes, the Virgin was appearing there, and yes he should go there. That trip would change Joey’s life like he would never have believed.
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