Gulf Pine Catholic

Gulf Pine Catholic • August 2, 2024 7 God has truly bless- ed our efforts and I am grateful to all of you who have contributed to this ministry as Good Samaritans through your gifts of time, tal- ent, and treasure. I deeply appreciate your prayers, your love, and generosity of spirit. This year, the funds of Catholic Charities of South Mississippi’s Bishop’s Gala will ben- efit the Mercy Cross Center. I am pleased to announce that Gayle Benson, owner of the New Orleans Saints, will join us on November 9 at the Beau Rivage Casino Resort’s Magnolia Ballroom to cohost the Gala. She will also speak on the importance of philanthropy. Please consider joining us for this special event, which will benefit the Mercy Cross Center. For more information, visit https://3rdBishopGa- la.givesmart.com or click on the QR code. SEE BISHOP’S SPANISH COLUMN, PAGE 7 Bishop’s Column From page 3 the local bishop in a statement of detachment from the world. It’s a fitting resting place for Carlo’s re- mains due to the way he lived his life and met his death. When he was just three years old, Carlo witnessed his grandfather receive the anointing of the sick on his deathbed. After his grand- father died, Carlo said he’d “gone to Jesus” and asked to be taken to church to pray. Though his parents were only nominally Catholic, Carlo satisfied his curiosity about the faith by asking questions of his devout Polish babysitter; and he grew in holiness, developing a devotion to Francis of Assisi and following in the saint’s footsteps through a love for the sacraments, care for creation, and acts of kindness towards those in need. Providing witness to many people throughout his life, Carlo eventually led his parents into a fervent prac- tice of the faith; and he is best known today for building a website documenting Eucharistic Miracles and Mari- an apparitions from around the world. Carlo chose the good at every turn of his life, which makes his death at the young age of 15 seem like such a bitter loss. He and his family did not even know he was sick until a week and a half before he died. His symptoms first manifest- ed in early October of 2006; one week later, he was diagnosed with leu- This past month, the College of Cardinals approved the canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis, ensuring that he will become the first millennial saint of the Catholic Church. This was preceded by Pope Francis’ recogni- tion in June of a second miracle attributed to Acutis’ intercession. With a date for the canonization Mass yet to be determined, the possibility remains for it to occur during the upcoming Jubilee Year of 2025. The intact, though not incorrupt, body of CarloAcu- tis is exhibited today in a glass case in the Shrine of the Renunciation in Assisi, Italy. The Shrine is named for Saint Francis’ moment of renunciation, when he stripped off his fine garments before his father and Light One Candle Santicola Carlo Acutis points us toward Heaven kemia; a few days after that, he was dead. But even amid this devastating, Job-like turn of events, Carlo chose the good, offering up his suffering for Pope Benedict XVI and the Catholic Church. The day before he died, Carlo came full circle in his journey of faith by following in his grandfather’s footsteps and requesting the anointing of the sick. The last words Carlo spoke to his mother were: “Mom, don’t be afraid. Since Jesus became a man, death has become the passage towards life, and we don’t need to flee it. Let us prepare ourselves to experi- ence something extraordinary in the eternal life.” Though Carlo was born in England due to his par- ents’ work, the family moved back to Italy while he was still an infant. He grew up in Milan, where he once made pilgrimages to every church in the city as an alter- native to visiting the Holy Land, saying of Christ, “He is here now.” It would be fitting for Blessed Carlo Acutis to be raised to the altars in the year 2025, when pilgrims will flock to Rome for the standard plenary indulgence granted in a Jubilee Year. May Rome, and all of Italy, and especially the City of Assisi in the region of Um- bria, the land of saints, come alive in celebration of this first millennial saint, who spent his life pointing the rest of us toward heaven. Garan Santicola is a freelance writer who lives in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. His Beauty & Truth column on the arts has won multiple National Catholic Press awards, and he is current- ly working on his first novel. For a free copy of the Christopher News Note, GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP, write: The Christophers, 5 Hanover Square, New York, NY 10004; or e-mail: mail@christophers.org .