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Pilgrims fill Assisi for St. Carlo Acutis’s feast, twenty years after his death
On October 12, the feast of the “first millennial saint,” pilgrims came to pray at his tomb in the Sanctuary of the Spogliazione. The day also marked twenty years since he died.
by VRSZ Editors · October 12, 2026 · 3 min read
A feast at the tomb
Monday, October 12, was the liturgical memorial of St. Carlo Acutis. He died of leukemia on that date in 2006, at fifteen. His body rests in Assisi, in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, the Sanctuary of the Spogliazione.
Pope Leo XIV canonized Carlo on September 7, 2025, in St. Peter’s Square, together with Pier Giorgio Frassati. Vatican News put that day’s crowd at more than eighty thousand.
Four days of prayer
The Diocese of Assisi held celebrations from October 9 to 12. They included Masses, Eucharistic adoration and testimonies. L’Osservatore Romano reported that more than three hundred people took part in adoration on Friday and Saturday evenings.
On Sunday, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle presided at Mass at the sanctuary. Cardinal Tagle is Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization. Umbria Domani reported that thousands of pilgrims came to the church through the day.
On Monday evening, Bishop Felice Accrocca of Assisi presided at the feast-day Mass. Carlo’s parents, Antonia Salzano and Andrea Acutis, were present. Umbria Notizie Web reported more than four hundred faithful. The bishop opened by asking for Carlo’s intercession for the health of Pope Leo, who is to undergo lung surgery on Tuesday. At the end of Mass, he went with Carlo’s parents to the tomb to pray and bless the body.
The diocese says more than 1.7 million people have visited the sanctuary since July 2025.
“The line to Carlo’s tomb wrapped around the streets of Assisi, and the cars backed up down the hill.”
Chris Stefanick (@ChrisStefanick) on X
Lines in the streets
The Catholic speaker Chris Stefanick (@ChrisStefanick), who is in Assisi with a group of pilgrims, wrote on X that the line to Carlo’s tomb wrapped around the town’s streets and that cars backed up down the hill. “Amazing to be here for it,” he added.
“My highway to heaven”
Carlo is best remembered for his love of the Eucharist. He went to Mass every day after his First Communion at seven. In his homily, Cardinal Tagle repeated the saint’s best-known line: “The Eucharist is my highway to heaven.” He quoted another as well: “The more Eucharists we receive, the more we will become like Jesus, and on this earth we will already have a foretaste of Paradise.” (Both quotes are our translations of the Italian.)
Cardinal Tagle said the Lord’s banquet did not cut Carlo off from the world. Instead, it became “a mission to invite others to taste the goodness of Jesus.”
The Bread of Life
Bishop Accrocca’s homily stayed with John 6, the discourse on the Bread of Life. In that chapter, Christ says: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51).
Christians in East and West have read these words together at the altar for centuries. Carlo spent his short life taking them at their word.
John vi. 51
51I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
Read the commentaries on John 6:51Know someone who would want to read this?
Sources quoted
- Holy See Press Office, “Papal Chapel with the Rite of Canonization of Blesseds Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis,” Sept 7, 2025, press.vatican.va.
- “Era per lui una missione invitare tutti al banchetto del Signore,” L’Osservatore Romano, Oct 12, 2026, osservatoreromano.va.
- “Ad Assisi le celebrazioni per San Carlo Acutis,” Umbria Domani, Oct 11, 2026, umbriadomani.it.
- “Monsignor Accrocca presiede la solenne celebrazione,” Umbria Notizie Web, Oct 12, 2026, umbrianotizieweb.it.
- Diocese of Assisi press release, Oct 1, 2026, as reported by Zeale, zeale.co.
- Chris Stefanick (@ChrisStefanick), post on X, Oct 12, 2026, x.com/ChrisStefanick/status/2109743592554017193.
- John 6:51, King James Version.
- Header photo: Tomb of Carlo Acutis, Assisi, Dec 18, 2021. Esthappanos Bar Geevarghese, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.