He was well known for the healings of thousands[citation needed] as well as for the construction of a foundation in González Catán, Buenos Aires Province, which includes, among other things, free health care and education up to college level.

In February 1927, Mario, who already had endured a terrible bout of pneumonia that almost cost his life, and his family emigrated to Cordoba, Argentina, where Enrico's brother had business interests.

Without a fixed destiny in his homeland, and bearing in mind that Cardinal Antonio Caggiano, leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Argentina, had asked the Pope for more clergymen, he went to Saint Pio of Pietrelcina for counsel.

There he would meet three people who would have strong bonds with him for the rest of his life: Juan Lo Celso, director of the hospital, a young physician called Escalante de Larrechea, and Perla Garaveli.

With his small savings (but huge dreams), he bought a piece of land in the Gonzales Catan area to build a house and a church.

There have been hundreds of testimonies during the years including from high profile people like historian Félix Luna, businesswoman María Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat, as well as former Argentine presidents Carlos Menem and Arturo Frondizi.

Seventy-two percent of González Catán's population lives in poverty, and public health can't cope with the estimated 550,000 requests for medical attention every year.

The Pantaleo school has the objective of giving González Catán youth the possibility to work at a higher level and thus help the whole community to develop.

Alejandro Doria, a well-known Argentine filmmaker, decided in 2006 to make a movie about the life of Padre Mario called Las Manos.