At the time of the announcement, some children from Catholic schools in Rome, the Indonesian community, the schools of peace of Sant'Egidio and Auxilium, and members of the organising committee of a major event to be held in the Vatican on 3 February: the World Meeting on the Rights of the Child, entitled "Let us love and protect them", which will involve experts and personalities from different countries. The Pope also communicated this at the end of the Audience, on the International Day for the Rights of the Child, and this news was also greeted by a loud applause and an unscheduled moment with a group of children running from the front row to the Pontiff's stage to greet and thank him.
“There is a group of children preparing for this day. Thank you to all of you who are doing this!", said Pope Francis, pointing to the group of youngsters accompanied by Father Enzo Fortunato and Aldo Cagnoli, both organisers of the famous "GMB", the first World Children's Day that took place last May at the Olympic Stadium in Rome.
Still thinking of the little ones, Pope Francis therefore wanted to announce the two canonisations. “I want to say that next year on Children's and Adolescents' Day I will canonise Blessed Carlo Acutis and on Youth Day next year I will canonise Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati,” he said.
On 23 May, the Pope had already approved the decree for the canonisation of Carlo Acutis, the young layman in love with the Eucharist and with a passion for information technology, described by many as "an influencer of holiness". In the ordinary Consistory of 1 July he had announced that he would be raised to the honours of the altars "on a date to be set". The Bishop of Assisi, Bishop Domenico Sorrentino, had anticipated in recent months that Providence "wanted the proclamation of his holiness, the ‘canonisation‘, to take place in the year of the Jubilee that will begin in a few months".
Frassati, a young student from Turin, Dominican tertiary and member of the Vincentians, Fuci and Azione Cattolica, is instead one of the most famous Blessed among the new generations of Catholics, considered one of the Italian "social" saints. A member of a wealthy family dedicated to prayer and the weak, he was also a real sportsman: "A mountaineer... tremendous", John Paul II called him, who wanted to beatify this "boy of the eight Beatitudes" in 1990. Now another Pontiff, with Piedmontese origins, will raise him to the honours of the altar in a year dedicated to recovering hope. Both Acutis and Frassati preached, not in words but with their lives.
And Carlo Acutis will also be a source of inspiration and a "true friend" for young Koreans and for all those who will participate in the next World Youth Day (WYD), which will be held in South Korea in 2027. In fact, the organisers requested and accepted a relic of the future saint in South Korea: 16 strands of Acutis hair, preserved in a reliquary, and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity, left the Sanctuary of Spoliation in Assisi, arrived on Korean soil, delivered into the hands of the Archbishop of Seoul, Archbishop Peter Soon-taick Chung.
According to the Organising Committee, "it is an important occasion as preparations for WYD Seoul 2027 intensify". The Archdiocese of Seoul and the entire Catholic community in Korea, "look forward to sharing the Gospel message of Blessed Carlo Acutis, in view of the upcoming WYD celebration, so that his journey of faith resonates deeply in the hearts of the young people of Korea and many other nations," the Committee notes.
