(September 24, 2009) Pope Benedict XVI presented St. Pio of Pietrelcina as a model,
calling him a "dispenser of divine mercy" through the confessional. At the end of
the general audience, the Pope pointed to Wednesday’s feast of Padre Pio, offering
the 20th century saint as a model for youth, newlyweds, the ill and priests. He urged
youth to follow the "testimony of faith and charity" that animated the life of the
Capuchin priest, as an aid to "project your future as a generous service to God and
neighbour." The Holy Father asked the saint to help those who are sick to "experience
in suffering the support and consolation of the crucified Christ," and he invited
newlyweds to "maintain in your families a constant concern for the poor." "May the
example of this very popular saint," the Pontiff added, "be for priests in this Year
for Priests, and for all Christians, an invitation to always trust in the goodness
of God." And he exhorted the faithful to approach the "sacrament of reconciliation,
of which the saint of Gargano, a tireless dispenser of divine mercy, was a faithful
and assiduous minister."