The following are excerpts from the Homily of Pope St. John Paul II at the occasion of the canonization of St. Pio of Pietrelcina:

"Padre Pio was a generous dispenser of divine mercy, making himself available to all by welcoming them, by spiritual direction and, especially, by the administration of the sacrament of Penance. I also had the privilege, during my young years, of benefitting from his availability for penitents... Even when that unusual confessor treated pilgrims with apparent severity, the latter, becoming conscious of the gravity of sins and sincerely repentant, almost always came back for the peaceful embrace of sacramental forgiveness.

"In fact, the ultimate reason for the apostolic effectiveness of Padre Pio, the profound root of so much spiritual fruitfulness can be found in that intimate and constant union with God, attested to by his long hours spent in prayer and in the confessional. He loved to repeat, "I am a poor Franciscan who prays" convinced that "prayer is the best weapon we have, a key that opens the heart of God."

--Pope St. John Paul II
June 16, 2002

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"It would be easier for the world to exist without the sun than without the Holy Mass."
St. Pio of Pietrelcina

St Pio of Pietrelcina - December 6th

Born: March 25, 1887 at Pietrelcina, Italy
Died: September 23, 1968 at Foggia, Italy
Claim to Fame: Mystic; Stigmatist; Soul-Reader; Experienced in bilocation and transverberation;  Frequently battled with Satan.
Controversy:  Calumnized and prohibited from saying public Mass in the 1920s;  Restored in 1933.
Path:  Canonized on June 16, 2002 
Patron: Adolescents, civil defense volunteers
Quote: “Pray, hope, and don’t worry.”


"Look what fame he had, what a worldwide following gathered around him! But why? Perhaps because he was a philosopher? Because he was wise? Because he had resources at his disposal? Because he said Mass humbly, heard confessions from dawn to dusk and was–it is not easy to say it–one who bore the wounds of our Lord. He was a man of prayer and suffering."

-- Pope Paul VI

St. Pio had a marvelous gift from the Holy Spirit which allowed him to be in two places at one time.  The phenomenon, known as "bilocation" is extremely, extremely rare, but the Good Padre was one recipient.  

Padre Carmelo Durante, an associate of Padre Pio, offered several instances in which it became know to him that the mystic had this incredible ability:
 

One day in the refectory we were talking of this and that.

I remember that in the conversation I was holding forth about a fact then unheard of: an aeroplane - I don't remember of which airline - had made the journey non-stop between Rome and New York in only six hours. To me and the others it seemed something incredible!

The Padre who until then had kept silent, interrupted in the middle and asked: "How long? How many hours, did you say?"

I answered, with increasing marvel: "Padre, six hours and what is more non-stop!"

The Padre also marveled over the fact but to the side exclaimed: "Six hours! Good heavens, but that is a long time! When I go it takes me only a second."

We asked him to explain himself, but he would say no more and only repeated: "I told you! I told you!"
Source: EWTN, accessed December 14, 2020

"Through Jesus I see and hear all --  
I see your soul just as you see yourself in a mirror."
 

Among his other gifts, St. Pio had the ability to read souls.  In other words, a visit to the confessional could result in the holy priest telling you the sins you committed before they could come from your own lips.  As disconcerting as that may sound, St. Pio was a man of Truth, and any attempts to conceal certain sins -- or to approach the sacrament merely out of curiosity of him -- was a sure ticket to walk away from the experience without absolution.   

But on other occasions, the penitent walked away irrevocably changed:
 

Actor Carlo Campanini went to confession to Padre Pio in 1950. Padre Pio said, "Begin in 1936." "But I confessed few days ago." "I told you to begin in 1936." Campanini remembered what he had done in 1936 and had been ashamed to confess. He concluded: "That confession changed my life, and I haven't missed daily Mass since than." 
 

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Luisa Vario at the confession. " 'I don't know what to say.' 'Then I will speak.' 'He proceeded to tell me my whole life's story.' 'Do you have something to add?' 'I mentioned a sin that he had not told me.' 'That's the one I was waiting for.' " 
 

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The evening of January 20th, 1936, Dr. Guglielmo Sanguinetti, was talking to Padre Pio in his cell. Suddenly Padre Pio took to his knees and urged them to pray "for a soul that is soon to appear before the tribunal of God." Afterwards Padre Pio said: "Do you know for whom you prayed? It was for the King of England." Around midnight Padre Pio went to the room of Padre Aurelio: "Let's pray for a soul which at this moment is about to appear at the tribunal of God." The next day the newspapers announced the death of King George V.

Source of anecdotes: Infallible Catholic, accessed 12-14-2021