Pope Francis has surprised many by announcing the canonisation dates of Blessed Carlo Acutis and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, set to take place in 2025.
In his weekly general audience in St Peter’s Square, the Holy Father said both young men would be recognised as Saints during the 2025 Jubilee Year.
The Holy See confirmed Acutis’ canonisation would occur during the Church’s Jubilee of Teenagers taking place 25th to 27th April and Frassati’s canonisation will take place during the Jubilee of Youth from 28th July to 3rd August.
The Diocese of Assisi said it expected Acutis’ canonisation Mass to take place on Sunday, 27th April at 10:30am local time at St Peter’s Square.
Our Lady of Dolours Church, Chatswood recently installed a first-class relic of Blessed Carlo Acutis. It is likely to become site of pilgrimage for many in the 2025 Jubilee Year but particularly now his canonisation has been announced.
Acutis, an Italian computer-coding teenager who died of cancer in 2006, is known for his great devotion to the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. He created a website tracking Eucharistic miracles across the globe and has become a model for teenagers and young adults, as they endeavour to live holy lives in the 21st century.
He was beatified on 10 October 2020 and in June, Pope Francis announced he had approved the canonisation of 15 people including Blessed Carlo.
Frassati, who died at the age of 24 in 1925, is also beloved by many today for his enthusiastic witness to holiness that reaches “to the heights.” He lived in Turin and was an avid adventurer, who also dedicated much of his spare time to caring for the poor. He was a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic and joined several charitable organisations including Catholic Action and the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul.
He was beatified by Saint John Paul II in St Peter’s Square on 20 May 1990 and in April 2024, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, announced that his canonisation had been approved.