Amid the mayhem stands the Church of San Marcello al Corso, a small church built in the late 17th century that also houses several relics, including one of the True Cross.

However, on the occasion of the Jubilee of Youth, the church became the temporary home of a first-class relic of Blessed Carlo Acutis, who will become the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint in September.

A steady stream of pilgrims entered the church July 31, signing prayer intention cards and kneeling in silent prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament. To the left of the main altar was a small table bearing a golden reliquary housing a section of Acutis’ pericardium, a membrane that surrounds the heart.

The display of the relic in Rome from July 29-31 was organized by Catholic Christian Outreach (CCO), a Canadian Catholic movement founded in Saskatoon, dedicated to ministry in universities, parishes and dioceses. During the Jubilee of Youth, CCO hosted the relic at San Marcello al Corso as part of its “Young Saints — A pilgrimage in Rome” program.

The flow of visitors and curious onlookers viewing the relics was due in part to volunteers inviting people walking along Via del Corso to visit the church.

Donning grey shirts bearing the CCO logo, Canadian volunteers Kieran Bray of Halifax and John Paul Mirabel of Winnipeg handed out to those passing by tiny pamphlets on building a relationship with Jesus.

“We’re a campus-based movement that aims to invite (people), students especially, to have Christ at the center of their life,” Mirabel told Catholic News Service July 31. “We’re here together for a mission to Rome, so we’ve gathered from all the campuses across Canada to invite people here in Rome in the Jubilee season to invite Christ to the center of their life.”

Bray said that Blessed Acutis is “very attractive to young people in the faith” and that they “really feel connected to him because he’s someone (with whom) they can really relate.”

Before his death from leukemia in 2006, Acutis was just a normal teenager with a knack for computers who put that knowledge to use by creating an online database of Eucharistic miracles around the world.

In his apostolic exhortation on young people, “Christus Vivit” (“Christ Lives”), the late Pope Francis said the teen was a role model for young people today who are often tempted by the traps of “self-absorption, isolation and empty pleasure.”

“Carlo was well-aware that the whole apparatus of communications, advertising and social networking can be used to lull us, to make us addicted to consumerism and buying the latest thing on the market, obsessed with our free time, caught up in negativity,” the pope wrote.

“Having the relic here, I feel like it has attracted lots of young people in the faith and people who are interested,” Bray added. “He’s really someone that we can look to and be like, ‘OK, we can be like this guy, right?'”

Mirabel told CNS that while he believes “Carlo would be so happy” seeing people flocking to the church temporarily housing his relics, he would be even happier knowing some people have become closer to the Eucharist because of him.

“Sure, he is the attraction; he is the relic here in this church. But then, people are drawn to the Eucharist, and he points to the Eucharist. It’s just how his ministry was and his website with the Eucharistic miracles; just pointing everyone to Christ.”

The Canadian volunteers told CNS they hope that through learning about the life of Blessed Acutis, visitors and pilgrims will learn that not only are they called to be saints, but that holiness is an achievable goal.

“I’ve noticed that people are saying, ‘OK, maybe I can’t be like St. Francis of Assisi, who did all these crazy things back a thousand years ago,'” Bray said. “But Blessed Carlo only lived 34 years ago. “So, it’s like, ‘OK, we can do that!’ And sainthood, it’s not impossible!”

Pope Francis recognized May 23, 2024, the second miracle needed for the canonization of Italian Blessed Carlo Acutis, who died of leukemia in 2006 at the age of 15. He is pictured in an undated photo. He will be canonized a saint of the church by Pope Leo on Sept. 7, 2025. (CNS photo/courtesy Sainthood Cause of Carlo Acutis)

About 16 small dark burgundy pillows lined the marble steps before the simple wooden casket marked by a cross, four red wax seals and one of the blessed’s favorite sayings, “Verso l’alto,” (“To the top”), engraved in his handwriting.

As visitors knelt in prayer, some pulled from their pockets or backpacks a rosary, prayer card, hat, even a priest’s stole and black shoulder cape to be placed reverently on top of the casket.

The relics of the 20th-century Italian layman, known for his life of service and charity, were brought from his tomb in Turin to Rome for the Jubilee July 28-Aug. 3.

His canonization ceremony, which will be held in Rome Sept. 7, was supposed to have taken place during the Jubilee of Youth before Pope Francis died in April. His family members still wanted the remains of the 24-year-old blessed to be in Rome for the world’s young people.

A volunteer places items from pilgrims on the casket of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati at the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome July 31, 2025. The items, including rosaries and prayer cards, are temporarily laid on the casket to become third-class relics before being returned to their owners. (Photo by Pablo Esparza, CNS)

Paul Jarzembowski, associate director for the laity at the USCCB Secretariat of Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, told CNS via a messaging service July 31 that he loves “Pier Giorgio’s well-balanced life and spirituality.”

“He was very devotional in his faith life but also very committed to charity and justice, not to mention a young man who loved sports, parties, outdoor activities, practical jokes, and good food and drink,” said Jarzembowski, who was in Rome for the Jubilee of Youth.

“He marched and actively protested against fascism in his day, even being ostracized by his peers who were supportive of (Italian dictator Benito) Mussolini’s growing regime,” he said.

“His was a life that young adults can emulate, showing that maturity in spirit can happen in one’s young adulthood,” he said.

“His short 24-year ordinary life was truly extraordinary,” he said. “Pier Giorgio is a great fusion of how young people and the laity can reveal God’s goodness.”

“I hope young adults and lay people today know that they have in Pier Giorgio a fun-loving, ordinary, saintly advocate who shows us how to live the joy of the Gospel,” he said.

A member of the Dominican Third Order, Blessed Frassati’s remains were located in the Roman basilica run by the Dominican Order. He was placed in front of the high altar, where lies the tomb of St. Catherine of Siena, who was also a member of the Dominican Third Order.

Thousands of young people and visitors streamed through the basilica July 31 to escape the heat, pray and learn more about the Italian saint-to-be from the many pamphlets and prayer cards arranged on a side table and informational placards placed throughout the church.

Some people who spoke with Catholic News Service were not aware of the life story of this young man.

For example, Pascal Brémond, 26, from France, said he was particularly devoted to St. Ignatius of Loyola, whose tomb was nearby. But he said he would now look more into who Blessed Frassati was.

Ernesto Aguilar from Mexico City said he felt close to the blessed because he was a young man like himself and because of “the joy that he transmits to all the other younger people.”

Emily Kourlas, who is originally from Ontario, Canada, but is living in England, told CNS that what is “really inspiring about him is he was very normal, if that makes sense. He’s very easy to relate to. He was a lay Catholic who loved the poor, and I feel quite drawn to that myself.”

Other things she finds relatable, she said, are his love for his friends, his self-sacrifice, and his love for the mountains. “I love the outdoors.”

Italian Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati was a struggling student who excelled in mountain climbing. He had complete faith in God and persevered through college, dedicating himself to helping the poor and supporting church social teaching. He died at age 24 and was beatified by St. John Paul II in 1990. He will be canonized by Pope Leo on Sept. 7. He is pictured in an undated photo. (CNS file photo)