Pray to the Dead Body

SAN GIOVANNI ROTONDO, Italy (Reuters) - The exhumed body of Padre Pio, a saint considered a miracle worker by his devotees, attracted thousands of pilgrims on Thursday when it went on display 40 years after his death.

Padre Pio is one of the Catholic Church's most popular saints and during his lifetime the Italian monk was said to have had the stigmata, the bleeding wounds of Jesus' crucifixion on his hands and feet.

The economy of this southern town revolves around the cult of Padre Pio and heaving crowds waited to see his body, displayed in a crystal, marble and silver sepulcher in the crypt of the monastery where he spent most of his life.

His face was reconstructed with a lifelike silicone mask of the type used in wax museums because it was apparently too decomposed to show when the body was exhumed.

"He seems like he is sleeping. Even if they had to re-do the face, its better remembering him this way than looking at a slab of cold marble," said Domenico Masone, deputy mayor of Pietralcina, the town where Padre Pio was born.

Some 15,000 devotees attended a Mass said by Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, head of the Vatican department that oversees the Catholic Church's saint-making process, before the body went on display in the afternoon.

"He knows what I want from him," said Antonio Zimbaldi, 19, who attended Mass with his face, except for his lips, covered with white gauze.

"I have been devoted to him for as long as I can remember." Zimbaldi's entire body was burned in a fire caused by a gas explosion two years ago.

The body of the bearded Capuchin monk was exhumed from a crypt on March 3 and found to be in "fair condition" after 40 years. Since then a team of medical examiners and biochemists has worked to preserve and reconstruct the corpse.

How extraordinarily sad.. for the conditions that cause people to think a dead body is going to do something for them..

The Catholic's have to have their "stars" you know.. just like a baseball team.. and if you have to dig them up to get people interested again.. then that's what you do.

Wonder how much the church is collecting in "donations" to see a decomposed body? If it goes well, they should dig up the last dead Pope, prop him up in the Pope-Mobile, and drive him around asking for more money.

Heck.. why not a Dead Saints exhibition?

/update

Police in Congo have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men's penises after a wave of panic and attempted lynchings triggered by the alleged witchcraft.

As Myers says..

Unfortunately, it's not very funny since deluded people are blaming their tiny, impotent penises on random people and beating and lynching them.

..reason #42,313 why religion is dangerous.. some random guy with a tiny dick might beat you to death.

/update 2

Science proves that astrology is a crock of shit. However..

Some of the most popular figures in the field, such as Russell Grant, Mystic Meg and Shelley von Strunckel, can earn £600,000 or more a year.

A single profitable astrology website can be worth as much as £50 million.

Like religion and other similar types of "belief", it's all about the money.. big money.. and a lot of people are too stupid to understand that. Or maybe they're just desperate.

John once dragged me to see John Edward.. I felt dirty afterwards.. John just wanted to hear from his dead mom, and I understand that.. but Edward is a fraud.. and worse, he's knowingly stealing money from people. Doesn't mean that John's mom, or mine for that matter.. is not somewhere else, soul intact. It just means that John Edward is not going to be channeling them anytime soon.

He's the Biggest Douche in the Universe.