Carlo Acutis’s bronze sculpture was sent to Assisi waiting for a new canonization date

The American Timothy Schmalz, known as “Pope Francis’s sculptor,” created a sculpture of Carlo Acutis aimed at presiding over his canonization in the Plaza de San Pedro and, later, be transferred to Assisi.

Everything was scheduled for Saturday, April 27, during the jubilee of adolescents, when Pope Francis would proclaim the young Blessed who loved the Eucharist and offered his illness and suffering for the Catholic Church.

However, due to the death of the Argentine Pontiff, the canonization was postponed and the sculpture remained for several days protected in a box inside the Vatican.

In conversation with ACI Prensa, shortly after Francisco’s funeral, Schmalz said he was in Rome for the inauguration of this “huge sculpture”, which during the ceremony was going to be on the avenue that leads to the Plaza de San Pedro, known as the Vía of conciliation.

“We send this huge sculpture here, and now it is in a box in the Vatican due to the suspension of the canonization,” explained the author of the work on April 28.

After several days protected in the Vatican, the work, in which Carlo Acutis is seen supported on a crucified Christ, finally moved to Assisi, the place where the remains of the saint rest.

In addition, Schmalz indicated that there will be a second sculpture of the saint that will be permanently installed in Assisi, in which Acutis is represented by holding a custody with the sacred shape and dressed in jeans, sneakers and a backpack to the shoulders.

The bishop of this Italian municipality of the Umbria region, Mons. Domenico Sorrentino, confirmed to Aci Prensa that both sculptures are already in Assisi. “The two will be located outside the sanctuary where Acutis’s body rests,” he said.

For the sculptor, the postponement of the Canonization of Carlo Acutis was providential: “The hundreds of thousands of young people and adolescents in Rome have made it the best conclusion for the funeral of the Holy Father, because here you can see the new Church and the growth of our faith.”

Although the new date has not yet been released, Pope Leo XIV will preside over June 13 a public ordinary consistory together with the cardinals to address several causes of canonization, including Carlo Acutis.

“My vocation was to do Christian art”

According to Schmalz, sculptures with religious sense “is one of the most radical and impressive things you can do as an artist.”

“With 21 years I really understood that my vocation was to do Christian art. When I created them, I felt in peace, I felt happy. It was an incredible journey, because the more sculpted, the more I learned and the more I wanted to incorporate my faith into the sculptures,” he told ACI Press.

He also stressed that it is “fascinating” that, despite the fact that Christianity is 2000 years old, “there is still much to create.”

Remember that one of the most emotional moments of his career as a Catholic sculptor was the creation of the sculpture “Jesus without a roof”, placed within the Vatican, at the entrance of the Dicastery for Charity.

For Schmalz, Jesus’ representation as a roof “helps us understand that all human life is sacred, and that there is no difference between the homeless person and the politician, king or entrepreneur who exists.”

The sculptor is also the author of Angels Unaware (Unconscious angels), the work placed in the Plaza de San Pedro that represents a group of 140 migrants. This sculpture was inaugurated by Pope Francis on September 29, 2019 on the occasion of the 105th World Day World Migrant and Refugee Day.

His last work was Be Welcoming (Be cozy), in which a foreigner is seen who seems to live as a vagabond, with his belongings stored in a bag and a cane that suggests a long journey, and whose face becomes an angel.

“Pope Francis loved so much the sculpture that he asked me to do ten of them in small size to give them to different people,” he said before remembering that the Pope became ill to the request shortly after his request.

However, he pointed out that the original sculpture, although it was planned to inaugurate it after Holy Week, was finally done before, which allowed the Holy Father to be present in the Vatican before his death on April 21.