By Bishop Nicholas Hudson
The Diocese of Westminster welcomes very warmly the news that Blessed Carlo Acutis will be canonised by Pope Francis in Rome on 27th April. Blessed Carlo’s bonds with Westminster run deep. Born at the Portland Clinic in 1991, he was baptised in Our Lady of Dolours, Fulham Road.
His grandparents, Carlo Acutis and Maria Perlowska, were married in Westminster Cathedral in 1963. We recently discovered their entry in the Cathedral Marriage Register (see photo). They would have been deeply moved, surely, to know that two thousand people gathered in this same Cathedral, two months ago, to venerate the relic of their grandson as we prayed Blessed Carlo to come alongside us in adoration of the Most Holy Eucharist as we celebrated our Eucharistic Festival.
Carlo used to describe the Eucharist as a ‘highway to heaven’.
‘The more we receive Jesus,’ he used to say, ‘ the more we become like Jesus.’ Carlo is an inspiration not only to the young but to all generations in his devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.
But the young have, quite rightly, a special claim on him. For he will be the first millennial saint to be canonised. He is of their generation and era. He was only fifteen when he died. A genius with the computer, he harnessed this new technology to the creation of a remarkable website which presents Eucharistic miracles from across the globe. There is something deeply fitting about Pope Francis’ choice to canonise Carlo during the Jubilee of Teenagers next April, in St Peter’s Square, Rome.
I found myself near to the church of Carlo’s baptism when I received the news of a date for his canonisation. So I entered Our Lady of Dolours. I was moved to find myself alone and standing beside the font where Carlo began his Christian journey some 33 years ago. I gave thanks to God for the extraordinary gift of Carlo to the Church and to the world. I asked Carlo’s intercession for this Diocese of Westminster especially, the place where he was led down into the waters of baptism; and asked his prayers that he might help each one of us to make the Eucharist our ‘highway to heaven’ and so grow to ‘become like Jesus’ too.
Blessed Carlo Acutis, pray for us
Images: Bishop Nicholas Hudson