Vatican City, Apr 21, 2025 /
08:20 am
The Vatican announced Monday that the canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis has been postponed following the death of Pope Francis.
“Following the death of Supreme Pontiff Francis, notice is hereby given that the Eucharistic celebration and Rite of Canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis, scheduled for April 27, 2025, II Sunday of Easter or Divine Mercy, on the occasion of the Jubilee of Adolescents, is suspended,” the Holy See Press Office said in a statement on April 21.
More than 80,000 teenagers were expected to gather in Rome for the April 27 canonization amid the Vatican’s Jubilee of Teenagers, according to the Dicastery for Evangelization, with young people registered from the United States, Brazil, India, Spain, Portugal, France, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Germany, Chile, Venezuela, Mexico, Australia, Argentina, and Nigeria.
News of Pope Francis’ death broke as pilgrims were beginning to arrive for the planned canonization, including a group of students from St. Joachim Parish in Sydney, Australia, who traveled more than 10,000 miles to attend the canonization.
With the death of the pope, the Catholic Church has entered a mourning period. Pope Francis’ funeral is expected within the next week. A conclave to elect his successor typically begins approximately 15 days after a pope’s death.
While the canonization is suspended due to the sede vacante, the Vatican has confirmed that the Jubilee of Teenagers will still go ahead with a few changes to the schedule. Due to the mourning period, a musical celebration in Circus Maximus on Saturday night has been canceled, but a special Mass for the Jubilee of Teenagers will still take place on Sunday, April 27, without the canonization of Acutis.
Cora Croson, 14, from Alexandria, Virginia, arrived in Rome on the morning that Pope Francis died with a group of 30 other Americans from the Basilica of St. Mary Catholic School for the Jubilee of Teenagers. She said that she was “shocked” to learn that Acutis’ canonization had been postponed but said she was still looking forward to her group’s pilgrimage to Assisi, where she can pray at his tomb and at the tomb of her new confirmation saint, St. Clare.
Blessed Carlo Acutis
Acutis, who died of leukemia in 2006 at age 15, is known for his devotion to the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Born in 1991 in London and raised in Milan, he is the first millennial to be beatified by the Church.
Shortly after his first Communion at the age of 7, Carlo told his mother: “To always be united to Jesus: This is my life plan.” To accomplish this, Carlo sought to attend daily Mass as often as possible at the parish church across the street from his elementary school in Milan.
Carlo called the Eucharist “my highway to heaven,” and he did all in his power to make this presence known. His witness inspired his own parents to return to practicing the Catholic faith and his Hindu au pair to convert and be baptized.
Carlo was a tech-savvy kid who loved computers, animals, and video games. His spiritual director has recalled that Carlo was convinced that the evidence of Eucharistic miracles could be persuasive in helping people to realize that Jesus is present at every Mass.
Over the course of two and a half years, Carlo worked with his family to put together an exhibition on Eucharistic miracles that premiered in 2005 during the Year of the Eucharist proclaimed by Pope John Paul II and has since gone on to be displayed at thousands of parishes on five continents.
Many of Carlo’s classmates, friends, and family members have testified how he brought them closer to God. They remember Carlo as a very open person who was not shy to speak with his classmates and anyone he met about the things that he loved: the Mass, the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and heaven.
He is remembered for saying: “People who place themselves before the sun get a tan; people who place themselves before the Eucharist become saints.”
Carlo died at the age of 15 in 2006 shortly after being diagnosed with leukemia. Before he died, Carlo told his mother: “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.”
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The Vatican has not yet given an alternative date when the canonization could take place. The Church’s Jubilee of Youth will take place in Rome from July 28 to Aug. 3, during which another beloved young person, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, is set to be canonized.
Courtney Mares is a Rome Correspondent for Catholic News Agency. A graduate of Harvard University, she has reported from news bureaus on three continents and was awarded the Gardner Fellowship for her work with North Korean refugees. She is the author of “Blessed Carlo Acutis: A Saint in Sneakers” (Ignatius, 2023), https://ignatius.com/carlo-acutis-sscap/.
