The Beatification of Carlo Acutis, a 15 year old Italian who died in 2006 offering all his sufferings for the Church and for the Pope, took place in Assisi on Saturday 10 October, 2020. Part 1 : Translation of an article by Isabel Orellana on the Church’s new Blessed. Carlo Acutis, a contemporary of ours, was 15 when he gave his soul to God, having left to the world a backpack full of blessings obtained by self-surrender each day. Prayer, the Eucharist, love of the Virgin . . . and profound eagerness to take the faith through the Internet — the instrument he had at hand, working with it intelligently and ably. He achieved his objective, moving innumerable people, who no doubt were unaware of the existence of Eucharistic miracles, http://www.miracolieucaristici.org/en/Liste/list.html, as well as many who knew about them. For good reason, he is called the “first influencer of God” and “cyber-apostle of the Eucharist.” He used the simile of the balloon which in order to go upwards we must let go of all burdens, even “our venial sins,” and go to Heaven ‘without a safety net’. He had thrown himself into the bottomless void of divine love as a child and now nothing and no one could stop him. Of Milanese parents, well-positioned professionally, he was born in London in 1991on 3 May 3 which, by tradition was the day when St Helena discovered the Cross of Christ in Jerusalem (this would have significance in his life). He was baptised on 18 May 1991 at the Servite Church in Fulham. A few months later, his parents took him to Milan where he would spend the rest of his short life. He was handsome, diligent in his studies, an alert boy and, in appearance like all others, although his acts of hidden generosity to the weak and homeless already gave away that something great was beating in him. Although his parents were non-practicing Catholics, they had him baptized and did not object to his receiving his First Communion and Confirmation. He studied in Catholic schools and was learnt the truth of the faith through his Polish nanny. Later, a domestic employee in his home converted due to his witness. To his habit of entering any church that was at hand, he added the pious practices common to those of a holy life. His companions, his friends appreciated his worth, and his dear ones, including his mother, were affected by his example and got used to seeing Carlo’s uniqueness as something natural. Perceived in his gestures and words was the exceptionality of someone who, though being in the world, lived with his eyes fixed on Heaven – the “next door saints” who shine out when they go to the bosom of our Heavenly Father. For a boy of his years he had been given great, even divine, wisdom. He regarded the Eucharist as his “Highway to Heaven” and, the Rosary, as the shortest ladder to ascend there, and the “most powerful weapon” after the Eucharist, to fight against evil. He believed that “our aim should be the infinite, not the finite because the former is “our homeland. Heaven is always waiting for us.” He loved the Church profoundly, which he defended without hesitation. With great lucidity, he was aware of the uniqueness of every person. “We are all born as originals, but many die as photocopies” he used to say. He knew that an ordinary life can become extraordinary if we put God at the centre. The sole “program” of his life was to be united to Jesus; hence he counselled: “Find God and you will find the meaning of your life.” He was very sure that the “only thing we must really fear is sin.” These and other thoughts, which are being slowly revealed in these days, reflect a very deep theology. In October 2005, the aggressive leukemia which blighted his youth extinguished his life. He knew that he would not come out of that illness alive, and showed it in a video, in all its crudeness, yet with serene joy. He offered himself in libation for the Pope and the Church, in order to avoid Purgatory and “be able to go straight to Heaven.” On 12 October 12 his eyes closed to this world only to open in the Heaven he had dreamed about. All the good he had sowed began to germinate from that day on. On opening his tomb, his body was found to be incorrupt. He was beatified on 10 October 2020 in Assisi in the Basilica of St Francis. His mother and father were both present. Part 2