Newsletter - 2 February 2025
Carlo Acutis: 'God's influencer' to be made the first Millennial Saint in April
Pope Francis has sent several messages to young people, encouraging them to embrace hope, perseverance and joy.
In the Message for the 39th World Youth Day, celebrated in Diocese last November 2024, on the theme: “Those who hope in the Lord walk without tiring (cf. Is 40:31)”, Pope Francis encourages young people to see life as a pilgrimage, a quest for happiness that is admittedly also tiring. He addresses the fatigue that can come with life’s struggles: ”This weariness is common to all who embark on meaningful journeys and that the solution to such tiredness is not found in resting but in becoming pilgrims of hope. It is precisely in this journey that hope must shine brightest, with just a smile, a warm gesture of friendship, a kind look, a ready ear, a good deed, in the knowledge that, in the Spirit of Jesus, these can become, for those who receive them, rich seeds of hope and thus become tireless missionaries of joy.”
The Pope invites the young people to embrace life fully, “to lift our gaze, in faith, to the saints who have gone before us on the journey, who have reached the goal and now encourage us by their testimony.” Therefore, Pope Francis announced last year that Blessed Carlo Acutis and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, will be canonised during two major jubilee celebrations dedicated to young people. Acutis’ canonisation will occur during the Church’s Jubilee of Teenagers taking place April 25–27, 2025, and Frassati’s canonisation will take place during the Jubilee of Youth from July 28–Aug. 3, 2025.
The Diocese of Westminster welcomes very warmly the news that Blessed Carlo Acutis will be proclaimed a Saint, because he has a deep bond with Westminster. Born in London 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. They would have been deeply moved to know that two thousand people gathered in the Cathedral last September, to celebrate the Eucharistic Festival and to venerate the relic of their grandson.
Carlo's true passion was the Eucharist. He famously said, “The Eucharist is my motorway to heaven, the more we receive Jesus the more we become like Him.” Carlo is also known as the "patron saint of the internet" because he used his natural tech talent to create a website to catalogue Eucharist miracles around the world and to spread his faith. As the first millennial saint, may his witness inspire many young people to walk the same path of holiness and greatness as he did.
Caterina Schifano
Focus of the Week
Friday 14 February, 7.30-9.30pm
Young Adults are invited to gathering in our Parish organised by Enfield Deanery.
The evening comprises of worship music, a speaker and adoration followed by a time for socialising.
Young Adults meetings rotate between each parish in the deanery on the second Friday of each month.
Please contact Caterina Schifano for any questions cockfosterspa@rcdow.org.uk or scan the QR code below for future meeting dates.
