Fr. Alan Robinson, rector of the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament at Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane, said: “He’s someone that we can refer to, point to, as an example. A wonderful example of how young people can have this incredible relationship with the Lord if they’re prepared to make that effort, to actually offer themselves to him.”
“I think Carlo would be very happy in Corpus Christi, it’s very much about his life. It’s about our Lord in the Eucharist. And I hope, I pray, that through his intercession and his encouragement that it will be a home for many more young people.”
As a teenager, Acutis was diagnosed with leukemia. He offered his sufferings for Pope Benedict XVI and for the Church.
He died from a brain tumor on Oct. 12, 2006, and was buried in Assisi, at his request, because of his love for St. Francis of Assisi.
Robinson said: “Young people often think they’re invincible, they’re going to live forever. And Carlo is this example of saying: that’s not necessarily true.”
“But the one thing that will continue forever is our relationship with the Lord, in the Eucharist, both in this world and then with our Lord when our earthly life comes to its end.”
Acutis’ cause for canonization opened in 2013. He was declared Venerable in 2018 and beatified on Oct. 10, 2020. More than 41,000 people visited his tomb at Assisi during the 19-day celebration of his beatification, and hundreds of thousands of people watched the live stream of the beatification ceremony.
Bishop Hudson said: “I think his beatification is of significance, particularly for the young people of our diocese, because Carlo was only 16 when he died, and he really is a model of young people evangelizing their elders.”
“By his mother’s own admission, her son really evangelized her … meanwhile, he was also evangelizing his friends as well.”
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“He had an intuition that he would die young and I think in some ways, as well as teaching young people how they can evangelize their elders, he taught all of us as well how to die.”
“When he was just approaching the end of his days, he decided he would offer all his suffering for the pope, for Jesus himself, and for his Church.”
Commenting on the presentation of the relics, Cardinal Nichols said: “Each of these churches is very beautiful, and each of them is worthy of a visit for its beauty, but even more so for the importance that each stands for of these two crucial sacraments in the life of the disciple of Jesus, and the life of the Catholic: Baptism and Eucharist.”
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