Q. In a homily, a priest asserted that Padre Pio, after death, continues to suffer in Heaven as an offering to Jesus. No information was provided regarding this contention. Would you have information regarding it? Also, could you recommend any recent books on St. Pio? — D.H., via e-mail.
A. We can’t imagine any information that would back up this contention. Padre Pio suffered in an extraordinary way during his lifetime, including bearing the stigmata for 50 years, but we know that there is no suffering in Heaven, only joy and happiness. In the words of the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
“This perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity — this communication of life and love with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels, and all the blessed — is called ‘heaven.’ Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness” (n. 1024).
“The life of the blessed consists in the full and perfect possession of the fruits of the redemption accomplished by Christ” (n. 1026).
“This mystery of blessed communion with God and all who are in Christ is beyond all understanding and description. Scripture speaks of it in images: life, light, peace, wedding feast, wine of the kingdom, the Father’s house, the heavenly Jerusalem, paradise: ‘no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him’ [1 Cor .2:9] (n. 1027).”
Books about Padre Pio include the following: Padre Pio: The Stigmatist by Fr. Charles M. Carty; Padre Pio: Man of Hope by Renzo Allegri; Padre Pio: The True Story by C. Bernard Ruffin; The Life of Padre Pio by Gennaro Preziuso; and Pray, Hope and Don’t Worry, Books I and II, by Diane Allen.
Q. In Mark 13:32, we are told regarding the end of the world that Jesus said, “But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” We’ve always been taught that God the Father and God the Son are both equally God. If so, how can the Father know more than the Son? — K.M., Nevada.
A. Or as others have phrased the question, if Jesus as God knows everything, how can He not know when the end will come? It is natural to think that Jesus, as the Son of God, would know when the world is going to end, but as the Catechism says, He was not sent by the Father to make that information known. It was not proper for Him as man to reveal that part of the message. In the words of the Catechism (n. 474):
“By its union to the divine wisdom in the person of the Word incarnate, Christ enjoyed in his human knowledge the fullness of the understanding of the eternal plans he had come to reveal [Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:33-34; 14:18-20, 26-30]. What he admitted to not knowing in this area, he elsewhere declared himself not sent to reveal [cf. Mark 13:32; Acts 1:7].”
In a footnote to a similar passage in Matt. 24:36, the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible says:
“Christ’s professed ignorance of this day and hour may be understood as hyperbole (overstatement)…Tradition maintains that Jesus’ apparent ignorance is not a literal statement, but a figurative expression; for the Father and Son share everything in common, including their divine knowledge.”
Q. Would you please comment on NaProTechnology in the light of Pope St. Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae? Since this gift is so little known, wouldn’t it be a spiritual work of mercy for a devout Catholic to post information about it on social media? — M.M., Alabama.
A. Yes, it would be a spiritual work of mercy to instruct the ignorant about this morally permissible way of treating infertility. Here is what the Catholic Health Care Ethics Manual says about Natural Procreative (NaPro) Technology:
“This technology includes a method for directly treating infertility due to female factors as well as a natural family planning method. NaProTechnology was developed by Thomas Hilgers, MD, director of the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction and director of Institute’s National Center for the Treatment of Reproductive Disorders. Dr. Hilgers has described NaProTechnology as ‘the use of one’s medical surgical, and allied health energies in a way that is cooperative with the natural procreative systems’.”
He says that “there are two premises in which the use of NaProTechnology for the treatment of infertility is based and because of which this method is distinguished from most other approaches to infertility. The first premise is that ‘infertility is only a symptom of underlying organic and hormonal disfunction or diseases,’ and the second is that success in the treatment of infertile couples can be found by treating the underlying disease process. By treating the underlying disease causing female infertility, NaProTechnology does not directly affect the conjugal act and is therefore consistent with the moral norm of Donum Vitae” (p. 107).
Donum Vitae was issued in 1987 by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. This document, says the Catholic Health Care Ethics Manual, “outlines the essential elements for morally acceptable means for bringing new human life into the world. Human procreation is to take place (1) within a marriage, (2) through a conjugal act (i.e., intercourse of man and woman married to each other) in which fertilization and gestation take place within the body of the woman, (3) who then gives birth to the child” (p. 7).
For information about this topic, contact www.naprotechnology.com.
Q. Can a rape victim call 911 for the soonest, shortest trip to the emergency room for treatment to avoid pregnancy? — K.M., Nevada.
A. Yes. Here is directive 36 of the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services:
“Compassionate and understanding care should be given to a person who is the victim of sexual assault. Health-care providers should cooperate with law enforcement officials and offer the person psychological and spiritual support as well as accurate medical information. A female who has been raped should be able to defend herself against a potential conception from the sexual assault. If, after appropriate testing, there is no evidence that conception has occurred already, she may be treated with medications that would prevent ovulation, sperm capacitation, or fertilization. It is not permissible, however, to initiate or to recommend treatments that have as their purpose or direct effect the removal, destruction, or interference with the implantation of a fertilized ovum.”
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