JOHN PAUL II TO BEATIFY PADRE PIO ON MAY 2

VATICAN CITY, APR 27, 1999 (VIS) - On Sunday May 2, at 9:30 a.m., the Holy Father will celebrate Mass in St. Peter's Square and will proclaim as Blessed Servant of God Pio da Pietralcina (Francesco Forgione), priest of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin.

According to a note from the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, the faithful also gathered in St. John Lateran Square in Rome and in the town of San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, opposite the church and convent of the Capuchin Friars, will join those in St. Peter's Square through a video linkup. Padre Pio lived in San Giovanni Rotondo from 1916 until his death in 1968. It was there that he founded the "House for the Relief of Suffering" in 1956.

Before the beatification ceremony in St. Peter's Square there will be a time of preparation, with songs, prayers, and readings of works of the Servant of God. At the end of Mass, the Holy Father will go to St. John Lateran Square, where he will briefly address the faithful present, pray the Regina Coeli and impart the apostolic blessing.

Images of the new Blessed, hanging on the facades of both St. John Lateran and St. Peter's, will be unveiled after the beatification rite and, following that, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Pope's vicar general for Rome, will celebrate Mass at St. John. At the end of Mass there, as the faithful await the arrival of the Holy Father, his earlier homily will be transmitted by television.

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