Hajja Salesjana

Photo by Neom - Unsplash.com by Francesca Pollio Fenton & Courtney Mares (CNA Staff) Pope Francis has recognized a second miracle attributed to the intercession of Carlo Acutis, an Italian teenager who died in 2006, paving the way for him to be canonized by the Catholic Church. A gamer and computer programmer who loved the Eucharist, he will be the Church’s first millennial saint. So who is Blessed Carlo? Here’s what you need to know: 1. Carlo Acutis was born May 3, 1991, in London, where his father was working. Just a few months later, he moved with his parents, Andrea Acutis and Antonia Salzano, to Milan, Italy. 2. Carlo was diagnosed with leukemia as a teenager. Before his death in 2006, he offered his sufferings for Pope Benedict XVI and for the Church, saying: “I offer all of my suffering to the Lord for the Pope and for the Church in order not to go to Purgatory but to go straight to Heaven.” 3. From a young age, Carlo had a special love for God, even though his parents weren’t especially devout. Antonia Salzano, his mom, said that before Carlo (was born), she went to Mass only for her first Holy Communion, her Confirmation, and her wedding. But as a young child, Carlo loved to pray the rosary. After he made his first Holy Communion, he went to Mass as often as possible at the parish across from his elementary school. Carlo’s love for the Eucharist also inspired a deep conversion for his mother. According to the postulator promoting his cause for sainthood, he “managed to drag his relatives, his parents to Mass every day. It was not the other way around; it was not his parents bringing the little 10 things you should know about Blessed Carlo Acutis boy to Mass, but it was he who managed to get himself to Mass and to convince others to receive Holy Communion daily.” Salzano spoke to “EWTN News Nightly” on October 2023 about her son’s devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. She said: “He used to say, ‘There are queues in front of a concert, in front of a football match, but I don’t see these queues in front of the Blessed Sacrament’ ... So, for him the Eucharist was the center of his life.” 4. Carlo’s witness of faith as a child led adults to convert and be baptized. Rajesh Mohur, who worked for the Acutis family as an ‘au pair’ when Carlo was young, converted from Hinduism to Catholicism because of Carlo’s witness. Carlo taught Mohur how to pray the rosary and told him about the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Mohur said that one of the things that most impressed him as a non-Christian was the witness of Carlo’s love and concern for the poor — how he interacted with the homeless man who would sit at the entrance of the church and would bring Tupperware 20 Lulju-Settembru 2024 hajja