The Pope to young people: don’t squander your lives, but direct them upwards and make them masterpieces

“Dear friends, Saints Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis are an invitation to all of us, especially young people, not to squander our lives, but to direct them upwards and make them masterpieces. They encourage us with their words: ‘Not I, but God,’ as Carlo used to say. And Pier Giorgio: ‘If you have God at the center of all your actions, then you will reach the end.’ This is the simple but winning formula of their holiness. It is also the type of witness we are called to follow, in order to enjoy life to the full and meet the Lord in the feast of heaven.” This is how Pope Leo XIV addressed young people during the homily for the Holy Mass with Canonizations of Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis on Sunday, 7 September.

On this festive Sunday, the Holy Father greeted the thousands of young people gathered in St. Peter’s Square: “I wanted to greet you all and say a few words, because, while the celebration is very solemn, it is also a day of great joy! I wished especially to greet the many young people who have come for this Holy Mass! It is truly a blessing from the Lord to be here together with all of you who have come from different countries. It is truly a gift of faith that we want to share.”

During the homily, the Pope highlighted the importance of Carlo and Pier Giorgio for the young people of today: “today we look to Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati and Saint Carlo Acutis: a young man from the early 20th century and a teenager from our own day, both in love with Jesus and ready to give everything for him.” The practice of charity towards those most in need – expressed through small, hidden gestures – ultimately makes these two new Saints true examples of the holiness found in our next-door neighbors to which all the baptized are called. The Pope said: “both had a great devotion to the saints and to the Virgin Mary, and they practiced charity generously. Pier Giorgio said: ‘Around the poor and the sick, I see a light that we do not have.’ He called charity ‘the foundation of our religion’ and, like Carlo, he practiced it above all through small, concrete gestures, often hidden, living what Pope Francis called ‘a holiness found in our next-door neighbors’.”

Henceforth, the Catholic Church will celebrate the feast of Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati on 4 July and that of Saint Carlo Acutis on 12 October.