By CatholicVote | Created at 2024-11-20 23:06:08 | Updated at 2024-11-21 09:27:20
10 hours ago
CV NEWS FEED // On November 20, the International Day for the Rights of Children and Adolescents, Pope Francis announced the canonizations of two young blesseds as well as a Vatican summit on the rights of children.
Vatican News reports that Pope Francis will canonize Bl. Carlo Acutis during the Jubilee for Adolescents April 25-27, 2025, and Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassatti during the Jubilee for Young People July 28 to August 3, 2025.
Pope Francis made this announcement during his November 20 audience.
As CatholicVote previously reported, Pope Francis once described Bl. Carlo Acutis as a “saint next door,” due to his ability to live out extraordinary sanctity in his day-to-day life. Born in a lukewarm Catholic family, Bl. Acutis’ lifelong devotion to the Eucharist inspired the reversion of his mother Antonia, and the conversion of his Hindu au pair, Rajesh Mohur.
Inspired by his deep love of the Eucharist, Bl. Acutis used his technological gifts to compile an online exhibit of Eucharistic miracles which has been recreated as an in-person exhibit all around the world, including at the National Eucharistic Congress. He died of a rare form of leukemia in 2006, when he was just 15 years old.
Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati was an equally beloved Italian youth, often depicted in his hiking gear with a pipe in his mouth. Aleteia reports that, growing up in a wealthy family, he dedicated his brief life to serving the poor. He died at the age of 24.
Pope Francis reflected, “He did not lose himself in the ‘good life,’ because in him was the sap of the Holy Spirit; there was love for Jesus and for his brothers and sisters.”
In the November 20 audience, the Pope also announced the World Summit on Children’s Rights on February 3, 2025. The summit’s theme is “Love Them and Protect Them.”
The Pope stated that the summit’s mission is developing new methods to protect and help the “millions of children who still have no rights, living in precarious conditions, exploited and abused, and suffering the dramatic consequences of wars.”
About 100 children from the Community of Sant’Egidio were present at the audience, and rushed to greet the Pope after he announced the summit.
He responded, “That’s how children are. One starts, and then they all come!”
