A recent Catholic Forum interview featuring Father John Aurilia, OFM Cap., who early in religious life was a secretary to Saint Padre Pio, has garnered over 100,000 views on the Diocese of Wilmington YouTube channel.
The interview debuted on YouTube on Sept. 24 and featured Father Aurilia’s recollections about working for the popular saint, his humility and spirituality. The all-time, top-rated episode shattered the number for a typical Catholic Forum podcast audience each week.
Father Aurilia, 85, worked for Saint Padre Pio in 1967 when Padre Pio, the Italian Capuchin friar, priest, stigmatist and mystic lived in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy. Father AurilIa now lives and writes at a Franciscan Friary in Wilmington and is the author of “Dearest Soul: A Spiritual Journey with Padre Pio” published by OSV Books.
“In the interview, Father Aurilia unveils a human aspect to Saint Padre Pio that one does not often experience,” said Bob Krebs, communications director for the diocese and longtime host of the Catholic Forum podcast/radio program. “I am sure that the warmth and charm of Father Aurilia also contributed to the immense popularity of the YouTube video.”
The 100,000-plus views make it the most watched video on the diocesan YouTube channel that also includes other Catholic Forum episodes, livestreams of Sunday Masses from Wilmington’s Cathedral of Saint Peter, special events and histories of some of the oldest churches on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The YouTube channel also picked up 1,500 additional subscribers due to the Father Aurilia interview, according to YouTube analytics.
Catholic Forum, which debuted on Wilmington radio in 1939, is the longest-running Catholic talk radio program in the country. It currently airs on WWJZ-AM Relevant Radio 640 every Saturday afternoon at 1:30 and is podcast on Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio and Amazon Music podcasts, as well as YouTube.com/DioceseofWilm. The podcast/program is a production of the Diocese of Wilmington’s Office of Communications.
