“Renowned for the stigmata, which modern medical science could not explain, Padre Pio also possessed other unusual qualities, such as bilocation, celestial perfume, the reading of hearts, miraculous cures, remarkable conversions and prophetic insight…
“Padre Pio’s hands, which the faithful can see while he celebrates Mass, are covered with blood, and the wounds seem bigger than they are in reality. Washing them with water, the stigmata appear as circular wounds, about two centimeters in diameter, in the center of the palm. Equal wounds are found on the back of the hands in such a position that they give the impression that the wounds meet each other and the hands are pierced through and through or transfixed, so that a bright light should be seen through the stigmata.”

Publisher: Tan
Paperback: 310 pages
Illustrated

“A 10-year-old black girl in California bled from her palms, feet, right side and the middle of her forehead for 19 days in 1972, until Good Friday, when the bleeding stopped. A Washington, D.C., priest experienced spontaneous bleeding from his wrists, feet and right side in 1991. Since St. Francis of Assissi in the 13th century, ordinary people have suffered spontaneous lesions and bleeding resembling the wounds received by Christ during the crucifixion… Includes a startling analysis of the socioeconomic conditions that might give rise to the emergence of stigmatics at the end of another millennium and interviews with a medical expert on stigmata.”

Publisher: Penguin
Paperback: 176 pages

Those darn atheists! Instead of happily swallowing the age-old dogma fed to them by authorities of organized religion, they chew it up, defiantly spit it back and go about studying the stuff to find out what’s really in it. Arthur Frederick Ide is one of those. He’s written over 200 books, many on the subject of the Christian religion and its influence on politics and prejudices during the mid-’80s. Here, Ide takes on the Roman Catholic institution of the papacy, researching early church writings and historical documents to expose the undeniably fallible human side of the men who, in the Church’s own words, “can only be judged by God Himself.”
Reciting a seemingly endless litany of corruption, coercion, torture, murder, sex fanaticism, insanity and absolute authority, the author nearly numbs us with his well-documented indictment of an office many people worship on a level nearly equal with the Deity. After awhile, just when one is tempted to say, “Enough!” the author has thoughtfully included reproductions of images of torture and Inquisition devices used to convert uncommitted souls in the past. And just in case you think all this happened a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, and not in our own “enlightened” times, Ide reminds us about the unfortunate John Paul I, who in 1978 died mysteriously after only 30 days in office. There is the theory that he was poisoned. Remember that this was only one pope ago. AS

Publisher: American Atheist
Paperback: 189 pages
Illustrated

“The Catholic Church claims to be poor, but this eye-opener will show show you she has wealth beyond your wildest dreams. With devastating thoroughness, secular author Manhattan untangles the web of deceit and reveals how the Catholic church has, through the centuries, amassed and multiplied billions of dollars in assets, including gold, real estate, stocks and bonds. Also revealed are the unscupulous methods she used to amass this unfathomable wealth, including everything from tricks played on kings, to the millions who attempt to avoid hell and shorten Purgatory with money.”

Publisher: Chick
Paperback: 304 pages

Packed with gruesome photographs of hangings, throat-slitting and mass murder, this book is one man’s solo crusade to expose what he believes is the Vatican’s complicity in a circus of blood horrors precipitated against the Serbs by the “Catholic” Ustashi. However, replace his continuous references to alleged murderers as “Catholics” with the words “Jews,” “blacks,” or any other minority, and what you are left with is an incitement to hatred based upon creed. In fact, the book is highly similar to Julius Streicher’s infamous Stürmer newspaper, except the “Jew” is now replaced by the “Catholic.” For this reason alone, the book makes for very amusing reading. JB

Publisher: Ozark
Paperback: 236 pages
Illustrated