The exhumation took place in March 2008, forty years after his death, and the body was shown in a part-glass coffin from April 24, 2008 for public veneration before being reburied. In 2013 it was moved to the gold-mosaic crypt beneath the Renzo Piano church. The friars have never claimed a miracle of preservation; the mask and vestments are what pilgrims see, and the sanctuary says so when asked.
Since the winter of 2017 the friars have moved the urn each year to the crypt of the old church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, where Padre Pio lay from 1968 to 2013, so that pilgrims can reach it more easily in bad weather; in 2026 it returned to the lower church of San Pio in a solemn translation on March 22. If you come between late November and March, check the sanctuary's site for which church holds the urn that week; both are on the same hill and both are open 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., the old church from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Mass is celebrated in the lower church at 7:30 a.m. and in the church of San Pio at 10:00 and 11:30 a.m., with 6:00 p.m. in Santa Maria delle Grazie; the full list and confession times are on the shrine schedule page. Photography at the urn is discouraged and the line moves continuously.