If I had to wager, I would put my money on Carlo Acutis being in Heaven. He was a fine Catholic teenager who loved the Eucharist. His project of compiling a computer data base of Eucharistic miracles gets an enthusiastic two thumbs up from me. His early death was tragic.
The movement to have him canonized so soon after his death leaves me flummoxed however. He has quite a following in Italy, especially among prelates, and I guess that explains it. However, if we are going to start canonizing lay Catholics who manifest love of Christ, there is a very long list. I can think of several members of the local Knights of Columbus and the Altar and Rosary Society I have known in the past, who I suspect are experiencing the bliss of the Beatific Vision now. Rapid canonizations should be reserved to those who have real miracles occurring after their deaths, martyrs and saints of the magnitude of Mother Teresa. Otherwise we cheapen and sentimentalize the process.
I agree with you. There is a rush to canonize by popularity. I suppose it was no different ages past when local cults grew up around holy people, but now it’s globalzied and become a “get it while it’s hot” mentality. This from a church that took 50 years to canonize St. Thomas Aquinas and 500 for St. Joan of Arc.
Don – I’m sure the comparison has already occurred to you as you compiled today’s posts.
Blessed Robert Johnson has been waiting since the 1500s to be recognized as a saint and he was a martyr (and not a quick one at that!). I fully agree that canonizations should be slow and careful, but some seem strangely delayed, like Fr. Johnson. Others, like Acutis, seem unwisely accelerated.
Although I do think that it is likely that Carlo Acutis currently a citizen of Heaven, I fear the rush is due to PR. The fear of the Vatican to be “relevant” to the youth seems to be driving this. Because he looks like them, he will be rushed through the process, arriving long before men like Fr. Johnson.
Happily, our reckoning of the inhabitants of heaven is not binding on the Almighty and His rankings quite unaffected by us.
Although it took half a century to canonise some of our greatest Saints, we live in a time where the advancements of technology (how fitting in this case) and science is at our fingertips, allowing us to test miracles more quickly and accurately. So you can’t compare apples with pears when it comes to the speed in which the process of assessing someone for Sainthood.
I would read more into this boys life and his mother’s witness about his ability from as very young age to explain the miracle of the Eucharist so deeply and accurately. It was always evident that there was something divine about the purpose of this young man’s short life. Especially in bringing young people to the Faith. There are also testimonies of St Francis and Padre Pio association with Carlos.
Donald, I’m with you here. I have had a similarly cautious reaction to the frenzy to declare this young man a canonized Saint. Unfortunately, John Paul II dumbed down the process of canonization to the point where such doubts are easily created and confidence in that process eroded. I have no doubts about the young man having been an exemplary individual. But canonization requires much more than that, and special care must be taken when declaring miracles. The latter point has become particularly suspect in recent years.
There is no need to rush this. But it will be rushed, because that’s how things are done now. More’s the pity.
“…we live in a time where the advancements of technology (how fitting in this case) and science is at our fingertips, allowing us to test miracles more quickly and accurately.”
Yes …and no.
Certainly we can process information far more quickly then in 1950. And yet….
You know, I’m suddenly struck by an analysis from the 90s(?). A commentator noted how many TV shows depicted “a problem” both rising and resolving within an episode, sometimes taking a two- or three-episode story arc. So, we could all watch the problem rise and resolve within …30 minutes to 3 hours, depending on the show and the story arc. Seems that this created frequently unrealistic expectations within society. In real life, “the problem” might not be resolved for 3 years, or three decades. ..Or ever.
Our late pope, St John Paul II did some marvelous things during his time in Peter’s See. He seems to sometimes have allowed…haplessly optimistic…expectations. He aimed, I think, to cause miracles and canonizing to be less “stiff” or “archaic”. He incidentally caused me to too-often think “where’s the beef?”.
In making miracles and sainthood causes more “immediate” and “relatable”, he accidentally made miracles and saints more difficult to believe.
I prefer seeing this kid rushed through than John 23 and Paul 6 and Wojtyla for that matter.
the fabricated incorruption of John 23 is really so offensive as to rise to scandal and serious sin. He’s about as incorrupt as Vladimir Ulyanov.
[…] AMERICAN CATHOLIC ON CUTE, CURLY-HEADED FRANCISSAINT CARLO: THE EFFORT TO CANONIZE HIM IS BIZARRE. I WOULD PREFER REAL MIRACLES. […]
More the popularity contest than the Causes for Saints. It is quite mortifying to observe.
I have believed for sometime the canonization process has become a Cult of Personality factory. Rapid canonizations should be rare and not applied to a candidate with a large complicated public profile.
Swimming against the tide here….If “rushing” his canonisation saves a single soul from eternal damnation….then let them “rush it”