In 1931, every copy of a book went into a room inside the Vatican and never came out. This is how the con man who made it happen first met Padre Pio. Emanuele Brunatto lived fast and never went to confession. In 1920 he walked into a friary on a bare mountainside in his good suit and white gloves. As the story goes, the friar looked straight into his soul, and he ran. Padre Pio called him back. What happened next was a confession that changed his life, and soon he was living in cell 6, right next to the friar in cell 5. But the friar had powerful enemies, and the con man was about to become a detective. ▶ The full story, "The Friar's Policeman": [LONG-FORM LINK — paste before publishing] From A Catholic Take with Joe McClane, 23 September 2026, the Feast of St. Pio of Pietrelcina. St. Padre Pio, pray for us. Watch live weekdays: https://thestationofthecross.com/act/ Books & pilgrimage: https://joemcclane.com/ Image credits (Wikimedia Commons): Vatican City aerial, lafiguradelpadre Congreso, CC BY 2.0 · Vatican Apostolic Archive interior, CC BY 3.0 · Gauntlet gloves (AM 2013.20.1.10-3), CC BY 4.0 · "Bouquet of red roses," পাপৰি বৰা, CC BY-SA 4.0 · "KOS O PIO," Mazaki, CC BY-SA 4.0 · other images public domain. Music: Brahms, Symphony No. 1, Musopen Symphony Orchestra (CC0). #Shorts #PadrePio #StPio #Catholic #ACatholicTake