The Shroud Codex - Jerome R. Corsi [9]
Castle had always wanted to study Padre Pio, suspecting his wounds were self-inflicted—not that Padre Pio had driven nails through his wrists to produce the wounds of Christ on the cross, but that Pio’s religious fervor had reached the point of becoming equivalent to a mental illness. As a psychiatrist, Castle suspected that Padre Pio’s disturbed subconscious had become sufficiently strong to cause Christ’s nail wounds in his wrists to manifest themselves as the bleeding wounds from which Padre Pio suffered.
Castle understood that Padre Pio himself had always maintained the wounds were mystical, caused by the direct action of God and inflicted upon him as a confirmation of his complete devotion to the crucified Jesus. Truthfully, Castle doubted Padre Pio, or anyone else for that matter, could say exactly what the wrist wounds of the historical Jesus Christ crucified had looked like two thousand years ago. As soon as Archbishop Duncan mentioned that Father Bartholomew had “manifested” the nail wounds of Christ’s crucifixion on his wrists, Castle was excited to realize he was being handed an opportunity right here in New York to study the phenomenon in person.
“Stigmata?” Castle asked the archbishop, using the Church’s name for the wounds of Christ on the cross that a few Catholic mystics have manifested over the centuries. “You’re telling me that this Father Bartholomew has begun to display the stigmata?”
“Not just the stigmata, but also the blood Christ shed on the cross,” Duncan said seriously. “Trust my judgment on this. This case is already drawing attention in the city right now. The pope is worried that Father Bartholomew could become an international sensation if we don’t get on top of this right away.”
“Why wouldn’t that appeal to the Catholic Church? It might get you more believers.”
“I’m in agreement with that sentiment,” Archbishop Duncan admitted. “I’d like more believers, especially if they would come to church on Sunday in my archdiocese. But the pope is worried that Father Bartholomew could be a fraud, or even worse.”
“What could be worse?”
“That’s why we are calling you,” Archbishop Duncan admitted honestly. “If Father Bartholomew turns out to have a psychological disorder, this is not the way the Church wants to get believers, and I don’t want them either, especially not in the Archdiocese of New York.”
“So, you’re confirming to me that Pope John-Paul Peter I is involved in this case already?”
“Yes,” Duncan acknowledged. “He is sending Father Morelli to the United States to work on the case. Morelli is a Jesuit and he’s one of the pope’s most trusted advisors. You’ve spoken with the pope yourself and I suspect you can judge for yourself how serious a man Marco Vicente is. He is the same man as pope that he was as a cardinal.”
Castle listened intently, but he was not yet convinced this was the case for him. “But why doesn’t the Vatican choose a Catholic psychiatrist? I can recommend several right here in New York City who are top-notch.”
“The pope asked for you to take this case,” Duncan said firmly. “The pope was very specific. The pope knows you and he trusts you, and he knows you have the skills we need. You’re a psychiatrist, and you’re also a very accomplished medical doctor.”
Castle appreciated what Duncan was saying. Before he had decided to switch careers and become a psychiatrist, Castle had been a well-known surgeon.
“If you had stayed with surgery, you would today be one of the best in the world,” Duncan insisted. “This case is going to demand more than psychiatry to understand the problem. Stigmata are a complicated medical issue and the Vatican feels we need a surgeon to handle the case. You cover both skills we