Computer programming teen Carlo Acutis to be beatified 

February 22, 2020 CNA Daily News News Briefs 3 Print

Vatican City, Feb 22, 2020 / 08:30 am (CNA).- The Vatican announced Saturday the approval of a miracle attributed to the intercession of Venerable Carlo Acutis, an Italian teenager and computer programmer, who died in 2006.

The miracle involved the healing of a Brazilian child suffering from a rare congenital anatomic anomaly of the pancreas in 2013. The Medical Council of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes gave a positive opinion of the miracle last November.

With Pope Francis’ approval of the miracle promulgated by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints Feb. 21, Acutis can now be beatified.

The beatification is expected to take place in Assisi. Acutis is currently buried in Assisi’s Church of St. Mary Major.

Acutis, who died of leukemia at the age of 15, offered his suffering for the pope and for the Church. He was born in London on May 3, 1991 to Italian parents who soon returned to Milan. He was a pious child, attending daily Mass, frequently praying the rosary, and making weekly confessions.

In May 2019, Acutis’ mother, Antonia Salzano, told CNA Newsroom: “Jesus was the center of his day.” She said that priests and nuns would tell her that they could tell that the Lord had a special plan for her son.

“Carlo really had Jesus in his heart, really the pureness … When you are really pure of heart, you really touch people’s hearts,” she said.

Exceptionally gifted in working with computers, Acutis developed a website which catalogued Eucharistic miracles. This website was the genesis of The Eucharistic Miracles of the World, an international exhibition which highlights such occurrences.

Pope Francis also authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the decree regarding the approval of two other miracles.

One miracle attributed to 18th century Indian martyr Blessed Lazarus, also called Devasahayam, who converted from Hinduism to the Catholic faith and was severely persecuted.

The other approved miracle was through the intercession of Blessed Maria Francesca of Jesus, the missionary foundress of the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of Loano, who died in Uruguay in 1904.

Both Blessed Lazarus and Blessed Maria Francesca of Jesus can now be canonized as saints. Their canonization dates have yet to be announced.

The Vatican decree also recognized the martyrdom of a Jesuit priest, Fr. Rutilio Grande García, and two lay companions, who were killed in El Salvador. Grande, a close friend of St. Oscar Romero, was shot by a right-wing death squad while traveling in a car on March 12, 1977.

The heroic virtues of Servants of God Mario Hiriart Pulido, a Chilean engineer and lay member of the Secular Institute for the Schoenstatt Brothers of Mary who died in Wisconsin in 1964, was also approved by the pope, along with the heroic virtues of three Italian priests: Fr. Emilio Venturini, Fr. Pirro Scavizzi, and Fr. Emilio Recchia.

If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!

Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.

Related Articles

No Picture
News Briefs

Pope calls United Arab Emirates ‘a land of coexistence’ ahead of visit

January 31, 2019 CNA Daily News 2

Vatican City, Jan 31, 2019 / 02:46 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis expressed gratitude for his upcoming trip to the United Arab Emirates, noting it is an opportunity to promote greater peace between Muslims and Catholics.  

“I am happy for this opportunity offered to me by the Lord to write, on your dear land, a new page in the history of the relations between the religions, confirming that we are brothers even though we are different,” the pope said in a Jan. 31 video message to the people of the UAE.

“With joy I prepare to meet and to greet ‘eyal Zayid fi dar Zayid/ the sons of Zayid in the home of Zayid,’ a land of prosperity and peace, a land of sun and harmony, a land of coexistence and encounter!”

Francis will visit Abu Dhabi, capital of the UAE, Feb. 3-5. There, Pope Francis will hold an interreligious meeting and a private meeting with the Muslim Council of Elders. He will make a private visit to the cathedral, and say Mass at a stadium.

The trip’s theme is “Make me an instrument of your peace,” a 20th century prayer which is often attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. The trip will focus on “how all people of goodwill can work for peace,” according to the Holy See press office.

The trip is widely seen as a part of the Pope’s emphasis on a culture of encounter and interreligious dialogue. Pope Francis visited Egypt in 2017 and plans to visit Morocco March 30-31.

In the video, the Pope said the UAE is a land aiming for “coexistence, human fraternity and encounter between diverse civilizations and cultures.”

He thanked Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi, for his invitation. The pope also thanked Ahmed el-Tayeb, grand imam of al-Azhar, for his assistance in the meeting’s preparations.

“I thank… those who have collaborated in the preparation of the meeting, for theircourage and will to affirm that faith in God unites rather than divides, that it brings us closer even in difference, distancing us from banishing hostility and aversion.”

Pope Francis quoted the words of Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, founder of the UAE: “True wealth does not reside solely in material resources; the true wealth of the nation resides in the people who build the future of their nation … Men are the true wealth.”

The trip was announced in December. Then-papal spokesman Greg Burke said the visit is a testimony to the Pope’s desire for peace among religions.   

“This visit, like the one to Egypt, shows the fundamental importance the Holy Father gives to inter-religious dialogue. Pope Francis visiting the Arab world is a perfect example of the culture of encounter,” Burke said Dec. 6.

According to Al Arabiya, the crown prince said the country looks “forward to the pope’s historic visit aimed to maximize opportunities for dialogue and coexistence among nations.”

The official religion of the UAE is Islam, with a Sunni Muslim majority. About 12.6 percent of the total population is Christian, according to the Pew Research Center.

The UAE is unique in that many of its residents hail from other countries. An estimated 89 percent of the population of the UAE are not citizens of the country.

[…]

3 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

All comments posted at Catholic World Report are moderated. While vigorous debate is welcome and encouraged, please note that in the interest of maintaining a civilized and helpful level of discussion, comments containing obscene language or personal attacks—or those that are deemed by the editors to be needlessly combative or inflammatory—will not be published. Thank you.


*