On Wednesday, Pope Francis announced the date for the canonization of the first Millennial saint, Blessed Carlo Acutis, along with Pier Giorgio Frassati, set for 2025. Both of these young Catholics were beloved during their lifetimes and were known for having a bright, shining faith and lived lives dedicated to holiness. The announcement, which was a surprise, came toward the end of the Pope’s weekly general address in St. Peter’s Square as part of his celebration of World Children’s Day.
Here’s more from the National Catholic Register:
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni later confirmed that Carlo Acutis’ canonization will occur during the Church’s Jubilee of Teenagers, taking place April 25-27, and Pier Giorgio Frassati’s canonization will take place during the Jubilee of Youth, from July 28 to Aug. 3. According to the Diocese of Assisi, Acutis’ canonization Mass is expected to take place on Sunday, April 27, at 10:30 a.m. local time in St. Peter’s Square.
Carlo Acutis, an Italian computer-coding teenager who died of cancer in 2006, is known for his great devotion to the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Born in 1991, Acutis is the first millennial to be beatified by the Catholic Church. Shortly after his first Communion at the age of 7, Carlo told his mother: “To always be united to Jesus: This is my life plan.” To accomplish this, Carlo sought to attend daily Mass as often as he could at the parish church across the street from his elementary school in Milan.
Acutis often referred to the Eucharist as “my highway to heaven,” and he was dedicated to spending every ounce of energy to make this truth known to the world. In fact, the intensity of his devotion to Christ influenced his parents to return to the Catholic faith and led to his Hindu au pair to convert to Catholicism and be baptized.
Carlo was also known for being extremely savvy with technology and for his love of animals and video games. The young man’s spiritual director recounted that Carlo was a big believer in using the evidence of Eucharistic miracles as an apologetic tool to convince folks see that Jesus is present at every Mass.
“Over the course of two and a half years, Carlo worked with his family to put together an exhibition on Eucharistic miracles that premiered in 2005 during the Year of the Eucharist proclaimed by Pope John Paul II, and it has since gone on to be displayed at thousands of parishes on five continents,” the report said. “Many of Carlo’s classmates, friends and family members have testified how he brought them closer to God. Carlo was a very open person and was not shy about speaking with his classmates and anyone he met about the things that he loved: the Mass, the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and heaven.”
"*" indicates required fields
“Carlo died at the age of 15 in 2006, shortly after being diagnosed with leukemia. Before he died, Carlo told his mother, ‘I offer all of my suffering to the Lord for the Pope and for the Church in order not to go to purgatory but to go straight to heaven,'” the NCR reported. Following his death, thousands of people paid tribute to Carlo by visiting his grave in Assisi after he was beatified in the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi on Oct. 10, 2020
Since his beatification, Catholic schools from the Australian outback to England have been named after Acutis, as well as countless ministries and parish initiatives. Pope Francis encouraged young people to imitate Blessed Carlo in prioritizing “the great gift of the Eucharist” in his message for the upcoming diocesan World Youth Days. In a decree on May 23, Pope Francis approved the miraculous healing of a 21-year-old young woman from Costa Rica named Valeria Valverde who was near death after seriously injuring her head in a bicycle accident while studying in Florence in 2022.
The family was told that her situation was very critical and that she could die at any moment, according to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. Six days after the accident, Valverde’s mother went on a pilgrimage to Assisi to pray for the healing of her daughter at the tomb of Blessed Carlo Acutis, leaving a written note. On that same day, Valverde began to breathe on her own; and on the following day she recovered the use of her upper limbs and partly recovered her speech.
She was then discharged from the ICU 10 days after her mom’s pilgrimage and then underwent additional testing, which revealed the hemorrhagic right temporal cortical contusion on her brain was gone. Valverde ended up only spending a week in physical therapy. Two months after the horrible accident, she visited Acutis’ tomb to celebrate her complete healing.
God is good, isn’t He?