On the 7th, the canonization ceremony and canonization Mass for Carlos Acutis were held in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican in Rome, Italy, according to the report. Pope Leo XIV announced at the canonization ceremony, “The church, which declared and confirmed the Blessing Carlo Acutis as a saint, decides to honor them as saints with reverence.” The pope added, “Saint Carlo Acutis is an invitation to all of us, especially young people, not to waste our lives, but to direct our lives upward and make them masterpieces.” The canonization ceremony, which lasted for about two hours, ended with a triad of prayers, and tens of thousands of believers and tourists from all over the world celebrated the canonization of the first millennial adult.
Born in Italy, Acutis is the first “millennial adult” in the history of Catholicism. Born in 1991, Acutis learned how to use a computer by himself when he was an elementary school student. Until he died of acute leukemia in 2006, he eagerly spread the gospel by posting a summary of the world’s adult miracles and Mary’s manifestations on his website. He was known as the influencer of God and the patron saint of the Internet. He also drew attention when his body was reassigned to the Holy Land of the Virgin Mary in Assisi, Italy, in 2020. His body was shown to the public wearing a hoodie and Nike sneakers. For this reason, he was called a symbol of the “MZ generation believers.” His statue in front of the cathedral is also a statue of him kneeling next to Jesus Christ and holding a laptop computer in his hand, unlike an ordinary saint. The canonization of Akutis is so fast that it is unprecedented. The Vatican honors Catholic priests or believers by titles such as Gaegyeongja, Bokja, and saints after investigating and verifying the degree of heroic virtue and the existence of miracles. Gaegyeongja is awarded to a person who is recognized only as a saint, and if a miracle is recognized once it is recognized, it is considered a blessing, and if a miracle is verified more than once, it is recognized as a saint.
As the process takes a long time to verify, it usually takes decades to get beatified (to put on Bokja’s clothing) and canonization. It was in 2020 that Acutis received the title of Bokja. It was recognized as a miracle that a seven-year-old Brazilian boy who was suffering from a pancreatic disease was cured after hearing Acutis’ t-shirt keepsake and praying for him.
Valeria Valverde, a Costa Rican woman in her 20s who was in critical condition after undergoing an emergency craniotomy in Florence, Italy in 2022, was recognized as the second miracle to recover quickly through her mother’s prayer at the Acutis tomb. The canonization ceremony was originally scheduled to take place on April 27, but it was postponed due to the death of Pope Francis. Pierre Giorgio Prasati, an Italian layman who devoted himself to charity for the poor and the sick, was also listed as an adult at the canonization ceremony.
EJ SONG
US ASIA JOURNAL
