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By Katie Vasquez

Before weekday Mass at St. Pancras Church in Glendale, Queens, Juan Camilo Pérez is making sure everything is in place.

When Mass starts, the religious coordinator is in the sacristy preparing for the day.

But on September 7, 2025, Pérez will be one of a select few that will witness the canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis.

“We’re going to be right by the altar, with the pope, next to the family, next to the friends of, Carlo, actually,” he told Currents News leading up to the canonization. “So, I won’t call it a privilege to be there. I call it a blessing.”

Pérez says Blessed Carlo’s mother, Antonia Salzano, learned of his devotion to the soon-to-be saint and personally invited him, as well as gave him a unique relic.

“This relic contains four pieces. So it’s one of a kind. It’s a relic that contains a part of his body, it also has hair,” he explained. “It has the clothing that the body had when he was buried, he was wearing that day, and a piece of his casket.”

The Diocese of Brooklyn employee says his devotion started when he visited Blessed Carlo’s body in Assisi, Italy a few years back.

“I passed by his body, and I felt this beautiful presence within me. And i just felt in love with Carlo,” he recalled. “And I didn’t know anything about Carlo.”

As a digital influencer, Pérez realized he had more in common with the first millennial saint than he thought.

“I was one of the first people in the world making, live streaming, on Facebook. And, I remember I started doing seminars and preaching or doing reflections about this in the Gospel,” he said. “And that’s all because of Carlo.”

He’s honored to represent the Diocese of Brooklyn in the Eternal City and eager to share the experience when he returns.

“We see holiness so far away from us, but we are called to be holy. Carlo became a holy kid, and we all can be holy,” he said. And holiness starts when we decide to be close to the Lord.”

He is expected to head to Rome on Sept. 4.