Letter from Rome/Paddy Agnew: Blessed or saint, in life as in death, it would seem that the remarkable Padre Pio continues to stir up controversy.
Throughout his lifetime, the Capuchin friar with the stigmata (bleeding wounds on his hands, feet and side similar to those suffered by Christ on the cross) was a figure who generated deep distrust, not only among non-believers but also in the Vatican itself.
Those with memories long enough to recall the 25 Vatican investigations into Padre Pio's "condition" could have been forgiven if they thought the clock had been turned back on Monday last. Accompanied by tractors, cranes and earth movers, the Padre Pio faithful gathered outside the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie at the Padre Pio sanctuary of San Giovanni Rotondo in Puglia to protest against "interference" from Rome.
The latest controversial chapter in the story of this remarkable saint - his proper name now is San Pio not Padre Pio, in the wake of his canonisation last summer - highlights one of the great enigmas about him, or more properly about the worldwide devotional cult that has developed around him ever since (and arguably even before) his death in 1968.
To the visitor to San Giovanni, that enigma is all too clearly visible. When Padre Pio first arrived there in the early years of the last century, it was a poor little village, clinging to the side of an inhospitable Puglia hillside.
Visit San Giovanni today and you find a latter day Klondyke whose skyline is dominated by building cranes and whose streetscape is invaded by stalls and kiosks selling all manner of Padre Pio kitsch. The latter day gold-diggers have struck rich with a variety of Padre Pio objects (cigarette lighters, key rings, statutes, postcards, rosary beads, pens, pencils, ashtrays, plates, plaques and even a "Limoncello" drink) that generate an annual €200 million turnover.
Where once there was little more than an olive grove, there is now a thriving town that boasts more than 200 hotels catering for the nine million pilgrims who visited the sanctuary last year. Where once there was just a modest monastery, there is now the building site of the not yet finished Renzo Piano-designed new church which so far has cost €40 million and which will eventually hold 10,000 faithful inside and another 40,000 in the piazza outside.
It is, of course, too easy for the non-believer to look at San Giovanni and conclude that it is more about "gold-rush" than God. To visit San Giovanni is to understand that, despite the over-commercialisation, it retains a spiritual charge for many pilgrims. An important part of the San Giovanni story, too, concerns the huge "Casa Sollievo Della Sofferenza" which offers 1,200 hospital beds and provides work for 3,000 people including 500 doctors.
Notwithstanding the good work done by the hospital and notwithstanding the genuine devotion of Padre Pio pilgrims, it would seem the Pope is concerned about the implications of a Padre Pio business empire that reportedly generates an annual turnover of €516 million.
Last Sunday, a new Archbishop, Domencio D'Ambrosio, was installed on the seat of nearby Manfredonia, with a papal bull decreeing that he will also hold the office of "pontifical delegate for the sanctuary and works of Padre Pio". Put simply, the Pope (incidentally a devotee of Padre Pio) has sent his own man to oversee the manner in which Capuchin friars run the show.
Needless to say, the friars did not much like the new Vatican appointment, with one of them, Father Paolo Convino, writing to local church officials to complain: "We feel like we are returning to that dark time that Padre Pio knew, with a decision that we see as both hostile and punitive in our regard."
Hence, the tractors, earthmovers, banners and even whistles of protest when Archbishop D'Ambrosio turned up at San Giovanni on Monday to visit the sanctuary. In the battle between Vatican and San Giovanni Capuchins, however, there will be only one winner - the Vatican.
It may well be that in future the San Giovanni loudspeakers will be turned down, the stalls reduced in number and future building schemes will be strictly monitored in order to avoid the seeming excess of the new Renzo Piano church project. It could be that San Giovanni might be on the way back to becoming a holy place again, in essence as in spirit.