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Month: October 2020

Tomb of Carlo Acutis is opened for veneration ahead of beatification

Posted by | Oct 1, 2020 | , |

Rome Newsroom, Oct 1, 2020 / 09:00 am (CNA).-  

The tomb of Venerable Carlo Acutis was opened for public veneration Thursday ahead of the computer-programming teen’s beatification. 

A spokeswoman for Acutis’ beatification told CNA that the entire body was present, but “not incorrupt.”

“Today we … see him again in his mortal body. A body that has passed, in the years of burial in Assisi, through the normal process of decay, which is the legacy of the human condition after sin has removed it from God, the source of life. But this mortal body is destined for resurrection,” Bishop Domenico Sorrentino of Assisi said at a Mass at the opening of the tomb Oct. 1.

The bishop explained that Acutis’ body was “reassembled with art and love.”

Acutis, who died of leukemia in 2006 at the age of 15, was known for his computer-programming skills, and love of the Eucharist and the Virgin Mary.

The heart of Acutis, which can now be considered a relic, will be displayed in a reliquary in the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi. His mother said that his family had wanted to donate his organs when he died, but were unable to do so because of the leukemia.

“Carlo is a boy of our time. A boy of the internet age, and a model of holiness of the digital age, as Pope Francis presented him in his letter to young people around the world. The computer … has become a way of going through the streets of the world, like the first disciples of Jesus, to bring to hearts and homes the announcement of true peace, that which quenches the thirst for the infinite that inhabits the human heart,” Sorrentino said.

The rector for the Sanctuary of Spoliation in Assisi, where Acutis’ tomb is located, told EWTN that reconstruction work on Acutis’ face was necessary before the public viewing of the tomb. 

Acutis had brain hemorrhaging at the time of his death, and he offered his suffering for the pope and the Church. 

“His body was discovered to be fully integral, not intact, but integral, having all its organs. Work was done on his face,” Fr. Carlos Acácio Gonçalves Ferreira said.

“In some way, his earthly face will be seen again. But that face — let us not forget — by now does not point to itself, but to God,” Bishop Sorrentino said.

Acutis’ tomb is open for public veneration Oct. 1-17 in Assisi to allow as many people as possible to make a prayerful visit in the weeks before and after his beatification Oct. 10, despite coronavirus measures limiting attendance.

In his interview with EWTN, Ferreira lauded Acutis as a witness that holiness is attainable for teenagers. 

In the tomb, Acutis is dressed in the casual clothes he wore in daily life. While he was not buried in this clothes, it is hoped that they will give evidence of the teen’s life.

“For the first time in history we will see a saint dressed in jeans, sneakers, and a sweater,” the rector said.

“This is a great message for us, we can feel holiness not as a distant thing but as something very much within everyone’s reach because the Lord is the Lord of everyone.”

In the year before he died, the Italian teen researched Eucharistic miracles to create a website cataloging and sharing this information with others.

As part of the 17-day celebration of Acutis’ beatification in Assisi, two churches are hosting exhibitions of the Eucharistic miracles and Marian apparitions cataloged by Acutis. 

Acutis’ tomb is in Assisi’s Sanctuary of the Spoliation, where a young St. Francis of Assisi is said to have cast off his rich clothes in favor of a poor habit.

“Carlo Acutis, like St. Francis, had in common, in addition to love for Jesus and in particular for the Eucharist, a great love for the poor,” Bishop Sorrentino said as he announced Oct. 1 that a soup kitchen would be opened near the Sanctuary of the Spoliation in remembrance of Acutis.

Carlo’s mother, Antonia Salzano (pictured above), said that she was very moved by the opening of her son’s tomb for public veneration.

“We are thrilled that finally Carlo’s tomb has been opened, especially because the faithful that Carlo has scattered around the world will be able to see him and to be able to venerate him in a stronger and more engaging way,” she said.

“We hope that through the exposition of Carlo’s body, the faithful can raise their prayers to God with more fervor and faith who through Carlo invites us all to have more faith, hope, and love for him, and for our brothers just as Carlo did in his earthly life. We pray that Carlo will intercede for all of us with God and obtain many graces for us.”

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Breonna Taylor Case: Black Kentucky Attorney General Called ‘Sellout,’ Compared to Slavemaster

Posted by | Oct 1, 2020 | |

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who spoke at the Republican National Convention, declined to bring murder charges against the three white officers involved in the tragic shooting of Louisville’s Breonna Taylor, a Black woman. Contrary to the public assertion made by a Taylor family lawyer, Cameron, who is Black, said the Louisville police did not […]

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Church must overcome pandemic ‘malaise’

Posted by | Oct 1, 2020 | , |

OTTAWA — The COVID-19 pandemic may have forced the Catholic Church in Canada to significantly change the way it operates, but the far ranging impact of the global health crisis has reinforced and strengthened the Church’s commitment to its missio…

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Is Satan a Myth?

Posted by | Oct 1, 2020 | , |

By Fr. Vincent Lampert  Fr. Vincent P. Lampert is the Pastor of St. Michael and St. Peter Parishes in Brookville, Indiana. In 2005 he was appointed the Exorcist for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. He received his training in Rome and is a member of the International Association of Exorcists. He is the author of Exorcism:

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Economy prefect says Vatican must be ‘a house of glass’ as 2019 figures released

Posted by | Oct 1, 2020 | , |

Vatican City, Oct 1, 2020 / 07:00 am (CNA).- The Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy released the 2019 balance sheet for the Roman Curia Thursday.

Fr. Juan A. Guerrero, S.J., the department’s prefect, told Vatican News Oct. 1 “the economy of the Holy See should be a house of glass.”

“We want the budget to explain how the Holy See uses its resources to carry out its mission,” he said.

The report comes a week after the resignation of Cardinal Angelo Becciu from the Roman Curia, which followed more than a year of reporting by CNA and other news outlets on various financial scandals involving Becciu and the Holy See’s Secretariat of State.

Guerrero told Vatican News he “reads the newspapers” and that “it is possible that, in some cases, the Holy See was not only badly advised but also cheated.”

“I believe we are learning from past mistakes or recklessness,” he said.

The Holy See balance sheet was also published as the Holy See undergoes an onsite financial inspection by Moneyval, the Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering watchdog.

The evaluation will likely include looking at the role of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), which functions as the Holy See treasury, sovereign wealth manager, and administers payroll and operating expenses for Vatican City.

In 2018, Pope Francis asked for Vatican investments to be centralized under APSA’s management.  

Guerrero said that the project of centralizing investments in APSA was advancing “little by little.”

The prefect also acknowledged that he made a request in April that all dicasteries transfer their liquid assets to APSA, saying he did it in anticipation of revenue loss due to Italy’s coronavirus lockdown. 

In May, Guerrero said that in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the Vatican is forecasting a reduction in income of between 30% and 80% for the next fiscal year.  

The Oct. 1 Holy See financial report for 2019 showed that the expenditure of the 60 curial offices for 2019 totaled 318 million euros (around $374 million) out of an income of 307 million euros.

The deficit of 11 million euros was smaller than the 2018 deficit due to 68 million euros in investment returns, the report showed. It said that the increase was “mostly attributable to the effect of the recovery of share prices in 2019.”

The report did not include financial statements for other Vatican entities which collaborate with the Holy See, such as the governorate of Vatican City State, the IOR, or Peter’s Pence, the pope’s charitable fund which comes from an annual Church-wide collection.

These institutions and others “present their results, and report to the corresponding authorities,” Guerrero said.

Despite not being part of the report, Guerrero said that Peter’s Pence covered 32% of the expenses “for the mission of the Holy See.”

The prefect said that Peter’s Pence in 2019 “collaborated with the mission of the Holy Father” for a total of 66 million euros, with 23 million coming from reserve funds in addition to what was donated in 2019.

Guerrero noted that this shortage has happened in the last few years, lowering the capital of Peter’s Pence overall.

The balance sheet showed overall income and expenditure figures for 2019 and a breakdown of how much went to each curial department.

Expense categories were listed as apostolic mission, assets management, and services and administration.

Under apostolic mission, the largest expense went to “message diffusion” at 22% and apostolic nunciatures — the Holy See’s embassies abroad — at 21%.

Supporting local churches in difficulty and mission territories accounted for 16%. Donations made up 12% and 9% was spent on maintaining the Curia’s historic assets.

APSA had the largest expenditure at over 66 and a half million euros toward asset management, followed by the Secretariat of State with more than 65 million in expenses, over 22 million attributed to administration costs.

The Dicastery for Communication, the department which employs the greatest number of lay people in the Holy See, spent almost 46 million.

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