Combine religion, profit and renewable energy and how can you go wrong? Plans were revealed to build a 60-meter high statue of a popular Italian saint, Padre Pio (1887-1968), that will collect and recycle solar energy. This curious union of green technology and religious iconography, to be built at Rignano Garganico in southern Italy, will honor Saint Pio of Pietrecina (birth name Francesco Forgione), who was famous for performing miracles and having stigmata—crucifixion marks on his body. While many in his lifetime considered him a fraud, he has gained a popular following around the world. The Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristianafound in a 2006 survey that more Italians pray to Padre Pio than to the Virgin Mary. He was made a saint in 2002. The Padre Pio Pilgrimage Church was dedicated to him in 2004 and brings in an estimated 120 million Euros annually. The cost of building the statue will be borne by Padre Pio’s followers around the world.