At 6:30 in the morning the barriers of the Plaza de San Pedro have opened to allow the entry of pilgrims to the canonization of Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati.
Amid the endless tails, Rubin, 16, was for whom to live the moment in which Pope Leo XIV has pronounced the solemn canonization formula is a “dream come true.”
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He has come to Rome from Dublin (Ireland) on a pilgrimage with a group of girls from his school where the young Italian, who died in Monza in 2006 at age 15, is very dear. And it is that the intercession of the first saint of the 21st century was crucial in the healing of one of her best friends.
“In our school we learn a lot about Carlo Acutis. For us, being here is very important because a friend of us was very sick as a child and they told her that she would never get well,” he explains accompanied by his mother, Catherine, and her little sister, Eme.
The friend who speaks is Rosie O’Connor. As he recounts, there came a time when he couldn’t even eat autonomously and “had a feeding probe.”
“He was a great athlete, he played football, but he couldn’t do any of that. He had to be prostrated in bed for many months. It was very hard for everyone,” he says.
One day a priest blessed her with some hair of the young man and a few months her situation inexplicably improved: “After being blessed with Carlo’s relics, he played again and is now completely recovered. He has even done very well in the exams and returned normally to school,” he emphasizes with emotion.
“My friend cured a degenerative disease thanks to him,” he declares without ambiguity.
The girl benefited by the miracle, which although she has not been classified as such by the Vatican has marked this school community forever, also traveled to Rome for the canonization. In fact, the Pope was able to greet this Saturday after the retirement audience to his father and his grandmother as he demonstrates with a photograph he teaches with his phone.
For his little sister, Eme, Acutis’s canonization also has a personal meaning: in his confirmation he chose the first saint millennial. “It’s my saint of confirmation,” he has a shy smile.
The family had planned to come to the canonization initially planned in April, but the dates coincided with school exams. “When they announced the new date, we do not doubt and buy the tickets,” he says by his side, his mother, Catherine.
The testimony of this little Irish pilgrim reflects how the figure of Carlo Acutis, the “cyber and the Eucharist,” already inspires new generations of young people and families around the world, turning the canonization into an event of living faith that transcends borders.
Victoria Cardiel
Victoria Cardiel is a journalist specialized in social and religious information issues. Since 2013, he has covered all the news of the Vatican for various media, such as the Spanish news agency Europa Press, or the weekly of the Archdiocese of Madrid, Alfa and Omega.