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ACCEPT
Recording artist Juan Camilo Pérez, a youth pastor at St. Pancras Church in Glendale, Queens, recently had an extraordinary experience: he was a guest of Saint Carlo Acutis’ mother during the canonization of her son as the first millennial saint.
In addition to celebrating the new saint in-person at St. Peter’s Square, on Sept. 7 he also had the chance to meet Saint Carlo Acutis’ brother.
Getting to know the younger sibling of a canonized saint offered a glimpse into the unique challenges of growing up alongside such a holy figure, and now Perez plans to draw on this powerful experience to inspire and evangelize within his parish.
From the Diocese of Brooklyn to Italy, the tech-savvy 15-year-old has inspired people of all ages worldwide. Here are just a few of the inspirational moments you’ll find in this special newscast:
– Pope Leo XIV canonizes Saints Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati, saying the moment can invite young people to live their lives to the fullest, too.
– The Diocese of Brooklyn celebrated St. Carlo Acutis in masses across Brooklyn and Queens.
– A digital influencer from a church in Queens shares what it was like to witness the canonization of a saint in-person, thanks to a personal invitation from Antonia Salzano, St. Carlo Acutis’ mother.
GREENPOINT — When nervous about her final exams at St. John’s University this past spring, Grace Lugo sought a little heavenly help by praying for the intercession of then-Blessed Carlo Acutis.
Her devotion to him will grow even stronger now that he has been canonized, she said.
“Now that the day has come and he’s canonized, it just feels like a big celebration,” Lugo said. “Maybe I never met him before, but he is my friend. I have a friend who’s now an official saint.”
On Sept. 7 — the day St. Carlo Acutis and another man, St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, were canonized — Lugo was at San Damiano Mission Church in Greenpoint attending a Mass organized by the Diocese of Brooklyn for young people to celebrate the two new saints.
At San Damiano Mission, a parish the diocese established in 2015 to serve young adults in the Greenpoint/Williamsburg area, there is great hope that the two new saints will bring more young people into the Catholic Church.
In particular, St. Carlo Acutis (1991-2006) can attract members of Gen Z because he was a tech-savvy teen, Lugo said. Shortly before he died in 2006, he launched The Eucharistic Miracles of the World, a website that drew a lot of attention.
“One thing about Carlo Acutis is that he is almost like this influencer for God before we even had social media,” she explained. “And also there’s really a lot of young people who are growing in the faith. A lot of it is because of social media.
“He’s kind of our patron.”
St. Carlo Acutis’s age and the fact that he lived in the 21st Century is also an important calling card because it makes it easier for young people to relate, Lugo said.
“Wait a minute. I thought saints were from the medieval period, from the Renaissance period. This guy who was 15 years old? He’s a great example that sainthood is possible at our age,” she said.
Barbara Freitas, apostolic coordinator for San Damiano Mission Church, said the fact that St. Carlo Acutis and St. Pier Giorgio Frassati (1901-1925) lived normal lives can serve as an inspiration. St. Carlo Acutis, for example, loved soccer. And St. Frassati, who worked with the poor in Turin, Italy, was a man who smoked cigars and enjoyed having a good time with friends.
“They are testimonies for us that we can like things in the world, like sports, and we can be normal people. And being normal people, we can make the most of that,” Freitas said. “We can let God’s grace dwell in that and help us be creative on our evangelization.
Father James Kuroly, director of youth and young adult ministry for the Diocese of Brooklyn, who celebrated the Mass, said the two saints are already having an impact.
“We’ve already seen it. I think that we see among the youth in our diocese that they are alive and vibrant for the faith, and very much the saints that come to mind of inspiring these young people are the two saints that were canonized this morning,” he said.
While much of the attention surrounding the canonization has focused on St. Carlo Acutis, Mike Delouis brought a relic of St. Frassati to the Mass.
“I’ve heard stories about him opening his door and if there was someone begging at the door, he would give them his shoes. That was something that really touched me and inspired me,” Delouis said.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The greatest risk in life is to waste it by not seeking to follow God’s plan, Pope Leo XIV said, proclaiming two new saints – two young laymen of the 20th and 21st centuries.
“Sts. Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis are an invitation to all of us, especially young people, not to squander our lives, but to direct them upward and make them masterpieces,” the pope said Sept. 7.
“The simple but winning formula of their holiness,” he said, is accessible to everyone at any time. “They encourage us with their words: ‘Not I, but God,’ as Carlo used to say. And Pier Giorgio: ‘If you have God at the center of all your actions, then you will reach the end.'”
Before canonizing the first saints of his pontificate, Pope Leo greeted the more than 80,000 faithful who had gathered early in St. Peter’s Square because he wanted to share his joy with them before the start of the solemn ceremony.
“Brothers and sisters, today is a wonderful celebration for all of Italy, for the whole church, for the whole world,” he said before the Mass.
“While the celebration is very solemn, it is also a day of great joy, and I wanted to greet especially the many young people who have come for this holy Mass,” he said, also greeting the families of the soon-to-be saints and the associations and communities to which the young men had belonged.
Pope Leo asked that everyone “feel in our hearts the same thing that Pier Giorgio and Carlo experienced: this love for Jesus Christ, especially in the Eucharist, but also in the poor, in our brothers and sisters.”
“All of you, all of us, are also called to be saints,” he said, before leaving to prepare for Mass and paying homage to a statue of Mary with baby Jesus and the reliquaries containing the relics of the two young men.
In his homily, the pope underlined Jesus’ call in the day’s Gospel reading “to abandon ourselves without hesitation to the adventure that he offers us, with the intelligence and strength that comes from his Spirit, that we can receive to the extent that we empty ourselves of the things and ideas to which we are attached, in order to listen to his word.”
That is what the two new saints did and what every disciple of Christ is called to do, he said.
Many people, especially when they are young, he said, face a kind of “crossroads” in life when they reflect on what to do with their life.
The saints of the church are often portrayed as “great figures, forgetting that for them it all began when, while still young, they said ‘yes’ to God and gave themselves to him completely, keeping nothing for themselves,” the pope said. “Today we look to St. Pier Giorgio Frassati and St. Carlo Acutis: a young man from the early 20th century and a teenager from our own day, both in love with Jesus and ready to give everything for him,” he said.
Pope Leo then dedicated a large portion of his homily to sharing quotes from the two and details of their lives, which is something Pope Francis had shifted away from, preferring to focus more on the day’s readings.
“Pier Giorgio’s life is a beacon for lay spirituality,” Pope Leo said.
“For him, faith was not a private devotion, but it was driven by the power of the Gospel and his membership in ecclesial associations,” he said. “He was also generously committed to society, contributed to political life and devoted himself ardently to the service of the poor.”
“Carlo, for his part, encountered Jesus in his family, thanks to his parents, Andrea and Antonia – who are here today with his two siblings, Francesca and Michele,” he said, as the crowd applauded, and Antonia smiled shyly at the camera.
St. Acutis also encountered Jesus at the Jesuit-run school he attended and “above all in the sacraments celebrated in the parish community,” he said. “He grew up naturally integrating prayer, sport, study and charity into his days as a child and young man.”
The pope said the new saints “cultivated their love for God and for their brothers and sisters through simple acts, available to everyone: daily Mass, prayer and especially Eucharistic adoration.”
St. Frassati was born April 6, 1901, in Turin and died there July 4, 1925, of polio at the age of 24. St. Acutis was born to Italian parents May 3, 1991, in London and died in Monza, Italy, Oct. 12, 2006, of leukemia at the age of 15.
The pope said that “even when illness struck them and cut short their young lives, not even this stopped them nor prevented them from loving, offering themselves to God, blessing him and praying to him for themselves and for everyone.”
Several family members and people closely associated with the new saints attended the Mass, along with dignitaries, such as Italian President Sergio Mattarella.
St. Acutis’ parents, Andrea and Antonia, and his twin siblings, Michele and Francesca, who were born four years after their brother died, were present and together brought the pope the offertory gifts. Michele also did the first reading at the Mass in English.
Valeria Valverde, who read the first prayer of the faithful, is a young Costa Rican woman who suffered a severe head injury while living in Italy. It was her unexplained healing that provided the second miracle needed for St. Acutis’ canonization.
St. Frassati was active with Catholic Action, the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the Italian Catholic University Federation and the Dominican Third Order. Lorenzo Zardi, vice president of the youth group of Italy’s Catholic Action read the second reading at the Mass and Michele Tridente, the secretary general of the lay movement, also presented the pope with offertory gifts.
Before praying the Angelus, the pope once again thanked everyone for coming to celebrate the church’s two new saints.
However, he also called for people’s “incessant prayer for peace, especially in the Holy Land, and in Ukraine and in every other land bloodied by war.”
“To governing leaders, I repeat, listen to the voice of conscience,” he said.
“The apparent victories won with weapons, sowing death and destruction, are really defeats and will never bring peace and security,” he said.
“God does not want war. God wants peace!” he exclaimed to applause. God gives strength to those who work toward leaving behind the cycle of hatred and pursue the path of dialogue.
FOREST HILLS — When Daniella López set out for Rome in late April, her pilgrimage was supposed to be a joyful witness to the canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis.
Instead, she and fellow pilgrims — parishioners of Blessed Sacrament-St. Sylvester Parish in Cypress Hills — found themselves swept up in an unexpected moment of Church history: mourning the death of Pope Francis alongside thousands in St. Peter’s Square.
Now, with the Sept. 7 canonization of Acutis and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, López, 23, said that experience has only deepened her connection to the new saints.
On Sept. 5, she participated in an hour of Eucharistic adoration with the Jornada Movement and joined parishioners in venerating their relics at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church in Forest Hills. The Jornada Movement is an ecclesial movement of Latino youth and young adults in the Diocese of Brooklyn.
“As part of my pilgrimage, I went to Assisi to visit Carlo Acutis. Even though [the canonization] is happening now and I’m not there, I kind of feel that tie, that I am there,” López said.
22-year-old Gilbert Perez Moronta, a fellow Jornadista and pilgrim of that trip, said what felt like sadness in that moment in Rome turned into surrendering to God and feeling closer to the soon-to-be first millennial saint.
“It brings me a lot of joy, especially because now both canonizations are on the same day,” Moronta said. “The Lord works in mysterious ways, as they say.
“For young people, it will be an incentive for us to search for Christ and to search for the life of holiness that can lead us to heaven.”
The Diocese of Brooklyn’s Youth and Young Adult Ministry organized the Mass and evening of prayer as part of a weekend event series, “Brothers in Christ,” to celebrate the dual canonization of Acutis and Frassati.
Bishop Robert Brennan celebrated the Mass. He expressed gratitude for the youth in attendance and reminded them that their presence is much like the two new saints’ devotion to Christ.
“These two young people have been recognized for their holiness, and it’s a model,” Bishop Brennan said in his homily.
He noted that Acutis loved prayer and the Eucharist, but also soccer and video games, and that Frassati was immersed in knowing Christ. “What makes them so amazing is not that they’re all that different — it’s that they loved God,” he said.
A procession with the relics of Acutis and Frassati immediately followed Mass.
The relics available for veneration included a small lock of Acutis’ hair and a cloth belonging to Frassati. Because Frassati’s body remains incorrupt, his relics typically consist of cloth items connected to his life, such as clothing or bedding.
Eucharistic adoration continued until midnight, with different youth groups leading each hour of prayer through music, reflections, and devotions.
Father James Kuroly, director of the Youth and Young Adult Ministry in the diocese and rector of Cathedral Preparatory School and Seminary, said the evening was designed as an opportunity for young people to encounter Christ together.
“It’s a chance for them not just to participate passively,” he said, “but to really invite us to encounter Christ and bring us closer to him through their gifts and talents.”
Prayers, songs, and reflections were led by the Queens College Newman Center FOCUS Missionaries, Comunidad Siervos de Cristo Vivo, the Shalom Community, and the Jornada Movement.
Throughout the evening, the groups prayed for the intercession of both Acutis and Frassati.
“I think what really speaks to the heart of our young people is how realistic their lives are. These are not two saints that lived a long time ago, but saints that our young people can connect with, who lived through the same joys and struggles they do,” Father Kuroly said. “When our young people see that holiness is possible for them too, it gives them hope and a desire to draw closer to Christ.”
López said that encountering Acutis during her pilgrimage led her to a deeper personal reflection on her own role in the Church.
This month, she will officially begin serving as a delegate of apostleship for the Jornada Movement, a leadership role focused on organizing service initiatives and helping young people live out their faith in concrete ways.
López said the position feels like a natural continuation of her pilgrimage experience, calling it “a no-brainer” to use her talents in service of others and to carry forward the mission of fostering holiness among her peers.
“I definitely find a connection with [Acutis and Frassati], especially in my new leadership position. I feel like I have this duty to organize events that help us serve and care for the most vulnerable and also give back to our community,” she said.
“That’s really the tie I have between these saints — their ability to foster a joyful community among their peers, and that spiritual growth tied into it,” López added.
A faith-filled influencer from the Diocese of Brooklyn got to witness the canonization of St. Carlo Acutis on Sept. 7, live and in-person.
Juan Camilo Pérez, pastoral assistant at St. Pancras Church in Queens, was invited to the canonization by the millennial saint’s mother after she learned of Perez’s devotion to her son.
He’ll join Currents News to share what the once-in-a-lifetime experience was like for him.
ASTORIA — There’s a new sacred space inside Immaculate Conception Church where parishioners can find inspiration — a chapel dedicated to saints of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Immaculate Conception’s pastor, Msgr. Fernando Ferrarese, said the chapel is meant to be a call to sanctity in our modern world and to show, especially to young adults, that they too can become a saint.
“That’s why there is this sign here, ‘You’re turn now,’ ” Msgr. Ferrarese said as he pointed to the words at the chapel’s exit. “This is more than lighting a candle to the memory of saints; it’s learning their lives and putting what you’ve learned into effect.
“We are hoping that everybody strives to be a saint.”
Another sign placed near a statue of Mother Teresa of Calcutta reads, “The only real tragedy in life is not to become a Saint.”
“This quote has always been really important to me because we all want to be in heaven with the Lord, so sanctity is very important,” Msgr. Ferrarese said.
On Sept. 1, Immaculate Conception unveiled its “Chapel of Today’s Saints,” a sanctuary dedicated to influential holy men and women of the 20th and 21st centuries.
For those who may never get to walk the streets of Assisi or visit the Vatican, this chapel serves as a local pilgrimage site.
Among some of the featured saints are St. Teresa of Calcutta, patron saint of World Youth Day; St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, patron saint of immigrants; Pope St. John Paul II, patron of youth, families, and his native country Poland; St. Faustina Kowalska, patron saint of Divine Mercy; Blessed Michael J. McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus; St. Gianna Beretta Molla, patron saint of mothers, physicians and unborn children, newly canonized St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, patron of young adults; and of course, St. Carlo Acutis, the Church’s first digital-age saint who used the internet to promote devotion to the Eucharist.
Although Blessed Father McGivney has not yet been canonized, the statue was placed in the chapel at the request of the Knights of Columbus, who remain hopeful in his eventual sainthood.
As Msgr. Ferrarese gazed upon the statue of St. Carlo Acutis, he reflected on how excited the students of Immaculate Conception Catholic Academy are to have a saint they can relate to.
“We have these wonderful saints, but they are dressed in their habits and cassocks, and the kids can’t relate to that. But Carlos there, with a backpack, rosary, and a cellphone — you can relate to that,” he said. “The idea of this chapel is to show kids and everybody that you don’t have to be a certain mold to be a saint. You use their example.”
Msgr. Ferrarese said he will formally bless the chapel on All Saints’ Day on Nov. 1, but the chapel’s blessings have already multiplied with the number of visitors it has received thus far.
“We can’t have a big crowd in here, so I plan to do it in between Masses and invite people who are here to come to the blessing,” he said. “I also plan to bring classes here one at a time and talk to them about the saints and give them examples, especially Carlo.”
Parishioner Keila Bisono called the new chapel “stunning,” adding that she was excited to have the new addition in her parish.
“We review and follow the saints,” she said. “My daughter is named after St. Gianna, which is one of the saints that’s there. So, it’s meaningful for us to see she has her saint there, where we can pray for her intercession.”
GREENPOINT — When nervous about her final exams at St. John’s University this past spring, Grace Lugo sought a little heavenly help by praying for the intercession of then-Blessed Carlo Acutis.
Her devotion to him will grow even stronger now that he has been canonized, she said.
“Now that the day has come and he’s canonized, it just feels like a big celebration,” Lugo said. “Maybe I never met him before, but he is my friend. I have a friend who’s now an official saint.”
On Sept. 7 — the day St. Carlo Acutis and another man, St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, were canonized — Lugo was at San Damiano Mission Church in Greenpoint attending a Mass organized by the Diocese of Brooklyn for young people to celebrate the two new saints.
At San Damiano Mission, a parish the diocese established in 2015 to serve young adults in the Greenpoint/Williamsburg area, there is great hope that the two new saints will bring more young people into the Catholic Church.
In particular, St. Carlo (1991-2006) can attract members of Gen Z because he was a tech-savvy teen, Lugo said. Shortly before he died in 2006, he launched The Eucharistic Miracles of the World, a website that drew a lot of attention.
“One thing about Carlo Acutis is that he is almost like this influencer for God before we even had social media,” she explained. “And also there’s really a lot of young people who are growing in the faith. A lot of it is because of social media.
“He’s kind of our patron.”
St. Carlo’s age and the fact that he lived in the 21st Century is also an important calling card because it makes it easier for young people to relate, Lugo said.
“Wait a minute. I thought saints were from the medieval period, from the Renaissance period. This guy who was 15 years old? He’s a great example that sainthood is possible at our age,” she said.
Barbara Freitas, apostolic coordinator for San Damiano Mission Church, said the fact that St. Carlo and St. Frassati (1901-1925) lived normal lives can serve as an inspiration. St. Carlo, for example, loved soccer. And St. Frassati, who worked with the poor in Turin, Italy, was a man who smoked cigars and enjoyed having a good time with friends.
“They are testimonies for us that we can like things in the world, like sports, and we can be normal people. And being normal people, we can make the most of that,” Freitas said. “We can let God’s grace dwell in that and help us be creative on our evangelization.
Father James Kuroly, director of youth and young adult ministry for the Diocese of Brooklyn, who celebrated the Mass, said the two saints are already having an impact.
“We’ve already seen it. I think that we see among the youth in our diocese that they are alive and vibrant for the faith, and very much the saints that come to mind of inspiring these young people are the two saints that were canonized this morning,” he said.
While much of the attention surrounding the canonization has focused on St. Carlo, Mike Delouis brought a relic of St. Frassati to the Mass.
“I’ve heard stories about him opening his door and if there was someone begging at the door, he would give them his shoes. That was something that really touched me and inspired me,” Delouis said.
Green gates surround St. Edmund Church in Breezy Point, after flames tore through the Queens church the day before Easter Sunday.
Its pastor, Father Michael Gelfant, was preparing his homily for the evening when he heard fire trucks.
“I got in my car, raced down here, and, you know, no sooner that you get a few blocks away, you just see the smoke going across the street. and it was pretty bad at that point,” he said.
Longtime parishioner Joseph Izzo lives across the street from the church and says the loss was heartbreaking.
“Everybody was looking forward to the Saturday evening and the Sunday Mass, of course, to follow. So it was a very, very sad day and obviously, one that touched the heart of the community deeply,” Izzo said.
The parish has been hard at work to rebuild. New beams and a roof were put on to protect it from the elements, but there’s still a lot of work ahead on the inside.
“They’ve never seen a church construction project go as fast as we are moving, because I’m a very impatient person and so we are going so fast,” said Father Gelfant. “You see the outside come together and you say, ‘great, the building has been fixed.’ There is nothing left to the inside of the building, to the school. There’s nothing: electric wires, switches, outlets, heating, air conditioning, light fixtures, flooring, walls.”
The project is partially covered by insurance but it comes with a high price tag.
“The total loss we have is about $3.3 million. We’ve already spent almost a million,” said Father Gelfant.
Izzo is looking forward to returning to the pews as it’s left a deep hole for parishioners.
“The church is the heart of the community, the place where we gather. So it’s tough.”
While it won’t be exactly the same, the church is trying to maintain the same character it’s had for nearly a century.
“It’s going to look like a beach church,” said Father Gelfant. “There will be elements and a few changes to the interior that I think will enhance our worship. But other than that, it’s pretty much going to be the same footprint.”
Starting Monday, crews will be working a full week to get the church back to its glory.
Those who would like to help can head to the Blessed Trinity Parish website and navigate to the icon that says, “Donate to Rebuild St. Edmund Church.”
A church in Breezy Point, Queens is undergoing reconstruction following a fire that tore through the church right before Easter Sunday – we have an update on the progress.
Pope Leo XIV held his first private meeting with the president of Israel to discuss peace and stability in the region.
Blessed Carlo Acutis will be canonized a saint in St. Peter’s Square on Sept. 7 and in Assisi, Italy, the church that houses his remains has become a popular pilgrimage site.