Lipa Archbishop Emeritus Ramon Arguelles incenses an image of Saint Padre Pio. Photo courtesy of Parish and National Shrine of Saint Padre Pio Facebook page
MANILA — The Padre Pio Shrine in Sto. Tomas, Batangas has been elevated as the country’s second international shrine.
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) President and Lipa Archbishop Gilbert Garcera made the announcement on Thursday.
“Ang Padre Pio ay international shrine na,” Garcera said during a presybeteral ordination at the Immaculate Conception Parish in Bauan, Batangas.
“Tinanggap ko po sa papal nuncio ang letter from the Vatican na ang Padre Pio is elevated from the national shrine to international shrine.”
Garcera said that the solemn declaration of the Padre Pio church would be held on September 23, which coincides with the death anniversary of the saint.
The CBCP said in a report that the Dicastery for Evangelization issued the decree on May 25, which was the 139th birth anniversary of Padre Pio.
In 2024, the Antipolo Cathedral was designated as an international shrine, the first for the Philippines.
The Shrine of Padre Pio was declared a national shrine in 2015, seven years after it was declared an archdiocesan shrine in 2008.
The shrine in Batangas has long attracted throngs of pilgrims, particularly from those who are seeking intercession for their healing.
Padre Pio, an Italian Capuchin friar, is globally renowned for mystical phenomena, including bearing the stigmata, the gifts of healing, and bilocation.
He was officially canonized as a saint of the Catholic Church on June 16, 2002 by Pope John Paul II, who was also later raised to the altar of the saints.
His incorrupt body was encased in a crystal tomb for veneration at the Padre Pio Basilica in San Giovanni Rotondo in the Apulia region in Italy.
The basilica, the same place where the saint lived, served, and passed away, is also a center of pilgrimage and continues to attract millions of devotees from all over the world.