Beatification of Carlo Acutis:

The first millennial to be

ASSISI, Italy— With the beatification of Carlo Acutis in Assisi Saturday, the Catholic Church now
has its first “Blessed” who loved Super Mario, Pokémon, and above all the Real Presence of Jesus in
the Eucharist.

“To be always united with Jesus, this is my life program.” Carlo Acutis wrote at the age of seven.

The young Italian computer whiz, who died of leukemia at the age of 15 offering his suffering for the
pope and the Church, was beatified Oct. 10 in a Mass at the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.

Born in 1991, Acutis is the first millennial to be beatified by the Catholic Church. The teen who had
an aptitude for computer programming is now one step away from canonization.

“Since he was a child … he had his gaze turned to Jesus. Love for the Eucharist was the foundation
that kept alive his relationship with God. He often said ‘The Eucharist is my highway to heaven,”
Cardinal Agostino Vallini said in his homily for the beatification.

“Carlo felt a strong need to help people discover that God is close to us and that it is beautiful to be
with him to enjoy his friendship and his grace,” Vallini said.

During the beatification Mass, Acutis’ parents processed behind a relic of their son’s heart which was
placed near the altar. An apostolic letter from Pope Francis was read aloud in which the pope
declared that Carlo Acutis’ feast will take place each year on Oct. 12, the anniversary of his death in
Milan in 2006.

Masked pilgrims spread out in front of the Basilica of St. Francis and throughout the different piazzas
in Assisi to watch the Mass on large screens as only a limited number of people were allowed inside.
Acutis’ beatification drew an estimated 3,000 people to Assisi, including people who personally
knew Acutis and many other young people inspired by his witness.

Mattia Pastorelli, 28, was a childhood friend of Acutis, who first met him when they were both
around the age of five. He remembers playing video games, including Halo, with Carlo. (Acutis’
mother also told CNA that Super Mario and Pokémon were Carlo’s favorites.)

“Having a friend who is about to become a saint is a very strange emotion,” Pastorelli told CNA Oct.
10. “I knew he was different from others, but now I realize just how special he was.”

“I watched him while he was programming websites … He was truly an incredible talent,” he added.

In his homily, Cardinal Vallini, the pontifical legate for the Basilica of St. Francis, hailed Acutis as a
model of how young people can use technology at the service of the Gospel to “reach as many people
as possible and help them know the beauty of friendship with the Lord.”

For Carlo, Jesus was “the strength of his life and the purpose of everything he did,” the cardinal said.

“He was convinced that to love people and do them good you need to draw energy from the Lord. In
this spirit he was very devoted to Our Lady,” he added.

“His ardent desire was also that of attracting as many people to Jesus, making himself herald of the
Gospel above all with the example of life.”

At a young age, Acutis taught himself how to program and went on to create websites cataloguing
the world’s Eucharistic miracles and Marian apparitions.

“The Church rejoices, because in this very young Blessed the Lord’s words are fulfilled: ‘I have
chosen you and appointed you to go and bear much fruit.’ And Carlo ‘went’ and brought the fruit of
holiness, showing it as a goal reachable by all and not as something abstract and reserved for a few,”
the cardinal said.

“He was an ordinary boy, simple, spontaneous, likeable … he loved nature and animals, he played
football, he had many friends of his age, he was attracted by modern means of social communication,
passionate about computer science and, self-taught, he built websites to transmit the Gospel, to
communicate values and beauty,” he said.

Assisi is celebrating the beatification of Carlo Acutis with more than two weeks of liturgies and
events Oct. 1-17. During this time images of a young Acutis standing with a giant monstrance
containing the Eucharist can be seen in front of churches all around the city of St. Francis and St.
Clare.

People stood in line to pray before the tomb of Carlo Acutis, located in Assisi’s Sanctuary of the
Spoliation in the Church of St. Mary Major. The church extended its hours until midnight throughout
the beatification weekend to allow as many people as possible to venerate Acutis, with the social
distancing measures in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Fr. Boniface Lopez, a Franciscan Capuchin based at the church, told CNA that he noted that many
people who visited Acutis’ tomb also took advantage of the opportunity to go to confession, which is
being offered in many languages throughout the 17 days when Acutis’ body is visible for venation.

“Many people are coming to see Carlo to ask for his blessing … also many young people; they come
for confessions, they come because they want to change their lives and they want to come near God
and really experience God,” Fr. Lopez said.

At a youth vigil the evening before the beatification, pilgrims gathered outside of the Assisi’s
Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels while priests heard confessions inside.

Churches throughout Assisi also offered additional hours of Eucharistic Adoration to mark Acutis’
beatification.

Lopez said that he had also encountered many religious sisters and priests coming on pilgrimage to
see Actutis. “Religious come here to ask his blessing to help them to cultivate a greater love for the
Eucharist.”

As Acutis once said: “When we face the sun we get a tan… but when we stand before Jesus in the
Eucharist we become saints.”

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blessed/
Holy See: ‘Death penalty the most
shocking thing in the world'
On 10 October we mark the World Day Against the Death Penalty. The Holy
See’s representative to the United Nations in Geneva reaffirms the Church’s
commitment to upholding its deep belief that life is sacred and that the death
penalty represents a failure for states and for humanity.

Pope Francis had already ordered a change in the Catechism of the Catholic Church in 2018
when he termed the death penalty “inadmissible.” In a section of the just released encyclical
dedicated to the death penalty, the Pope goes further, calling on Catholics to work for its
abolition.
We asked Archbishop Ivan Jurkovič, the Holy See’s Permanent Observer to United Nations
Office and Specialized Agencies in Geneva, for his reaction to the seven paragraphs in the
encyclical in which the Pope states the Church’s unequivocal opposition to capital punishment in
all instances.  

Archbishop Jurkovič describes the encyclical as “a blessing for the international organization”,
as it provides strong, unequivocal statements backed by consistent behaviour as a reference and a
guide.
“This is what we get from Pope Francis and also from other Popes before him,” he said.
The Archbishop, who was appointed Permanent Observer in Geneva in February 2016, said the
UN watches the Holy See from this solid point of view in a changing world. He noted that often
principles are upheld and then abandoned by the same people who promoted them in the first
place, and he highlighted a general incapacity to be coherent and stand firm to commitments
while the Church and the papacy continue to communicate a message that is consistent with the
values of the Gospel.
“The problem we have at International Organizations in Geneva,” and in society at large, he said,
is the perception that “certain things are just statistics and this leads us to avoid having to face a
“dramatic reality [like the death penalty] that would shock us.”
The worst sin a human being can commit
“The death penalty is the most shocking thing that exists in this world and it is juridically
permitted, or allowed in many places,” he said.
Archbishop Jurkovič quoted the great Russian writer, Tolstoy, who told of how one day he
witnessed an execution and said: “Today I was the witness of the biggest sin a human being can
commit in the name of justice.”
All international organizations, he reiterated, have the duty to speak clearly about the horror of
the death penalty and “transmit to everybody” that capital punishment is absolutely horrible and
inadmissible.
Asked to comment on the U.S. federal government's recent resumption of executions after a 17-
year hiatus, Archbishop Jurkovič said that when we speak about decisions taken by governments
or public authority, it is indispensable to consider the personal responsibility of each individual
who makes up the electorate.
“It is a problem of the government, but it is a problem that reflects a culture in which we do not
fight our instinct of violence or desire for revenge,” he said.
Jurkovič compared society to a plant saying that if it does not grow, if it is not vital enough to
develop and it starts to decay.
“We have to grow continuosly, spiritually, socially and also culturally,” he said.
The Church stands firm in its convictions
As Christians, the Archbishop explained, we have the responsibility of taking the trends
manifested by society seriously, and we need to act and promote education and awareness.
He noted positive trends in the world today in which a growing number of countries have
abolished capital punishment.
This is a good tendency, he said, but said that especially for certain issues, including the death
penalty, "one day certain values are promoted," and the next they fall of the shelf.
“As Church we are consistent, we stand firmly behind our convictions: this is our duty and our
task every day,” he said.
The Church goes forward affirming its values
At a time when 142 countries have either abolished or observe a moratorium on capital
punishment, what can the Holy See representation in Geneva do to convince leaders of nations
that still uphold the practice to change course?
Archbishop Jurkovič admitted that often he is aware that the Church affirms values that many
people will not follow, even though “they are happy to listen to what we have to say.”
“In this big hall where 194 delegations are seated, they like to listen to things they will not
follow,” he said, but we – the Holy See - must continue to bring the message of the Gospel,
backed by what the Church is doing on the ground, especially in the poorest countries, using the
highest standards and the highest convictions, as well as Divine Mercy, in order to bring healing
and help the international community understand what this work is about.
“We must continue in our mission,” Jurkovič said, knowing that words will not do everything,
but repeating them with great conviction.
Love
As a Christian and as a representative of the Church, the Archbishop revealed, he has a powerful
‘weapon’ and it’s called “love”.
“As the representative of the Holy See at an international organization, I would introduce one
word that does not exist in international organizations,” he said, noting that in Geneva everyone
uses a “UN language” that contains a lot of technical, cultural and social words, but never the
word “love!”
“You never find anybody using the word ‘love’ in his or her official speech,” he said.
As the encyclical, Fratelli tutti invites us to do, we must have the courage to announce the need
for love in social life, Archbishop Jurkovič concluded: “many are awaiting their copy of the
encyclical, and they expect something that will be different, something that will be inspirational,
and something that will help us to move ahead and be more convinced and more able to build a
better society.”

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