Inside a souvenir shop in Assisi, the face of a boy with thick black curly hair smiles from the curtained walls, magnets and key rings, glittering flying cherubs, snow globes and other religious ornaments that adorn the shelves.
But the owner, Elvira Boccacci, tries to explain to some curious tourists who Carlo Acutis, the boy in the picture, is. “The Americans asked if he was an Italian footballer because of his top,” he said.
Boccacci are used to dealing with even more curious customers. From the 24th of December Pope Francis officially opens the Jubilee 2025, a year of celebrations for Catholics around the world to reconnect with their faith, Assisi will be the second major stop after Rome for the event of thousands flocking to Italy.
Without a doubt, they will visit the tomb of Francis, the Patron Saint of Italy, who was published in the middle ages of the town, and whose remains are buried on the road from Boccacci’s shop, in the most august basilica built in his honor in the 13th century.
But they will also be seduced by Acutis, who at the end of April will become the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint. His embalmed body, dressed in jeans, trainers and a blue track top, lies in front of a blue glass case in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Assisi.
Nicknamed “God’s Influencer”, Sharp laid the foundations for holiness after helping to spread Catholic teaching online before his death from leukemia in 2006 at the age of 15. He has created websites for Catholic institutions as well as the miracles they record. Pupilus, born in London before moving to Milan with his Italian parents, admired Saint Francis for his dedication to helping the poor and asked him to rest in Assisi.
Pope Francis Purgatory of Acutus to sanctity in May and attributing to him two miracles. The first involved the sudden illness of a boy in Brazil from a rare congenital disease affecting the pancreas, the second in Florence who suffered from head trauma with bleeding on the brain.
Boccacci believes his rise to sainthood happened sooner, pointing out that Padre Pio, another Italian Saint, took years to receive the highest honors from the Vatican. But the observers of the Catholic Church say; must be a switched-on teen saint seeking to attract more young people to faith.
He hopes that the Vatican will join his canonization with the Jubilee, which will help him achieve that. But in Assisi, which has a population of about 27,000 in the historic center and the common area, there is some trepidation that the town could be overwhelmed.
As many as 33 million pilgrims announce that they will visit Rome in the holy year. Many will come in package tours that include Assisi. Umbria is surrounded by high green mountains, the town has long been a well-trodden spike. But tourism has taken off in recent years, and Jubilee is expected to bring in more than 5 million visitors, a number that will double in 2024.
Acutis has already proven to be a major attraction when his remains were exhumed from a local cemetery in 2019 and moved to the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, which is also where Catholics believe Saint Francis stripped himself of worldly goods and surrendered himself to God.
More than 80,000 people from all over the world visited the tomb of Acutis between January and August this year. “Carlo attracts people and especially young people,” said Dominicus Surrentinus, bishop of Assisi. “It surprised me too, but we didn’t think about it. I think it comes from above. Young people are very attracted, like Carlo, to a different idea of sanctity and sanctity to the one they have.
In the Surrentine, the intrepid Assisi, even attractive as a place of peace and contemplation, is inundated with danger. “We have two big events and they reach Assisi,” he said. But I think it is also a great opportunity for the town, the diocese and the faithful.
On the other hand, Marcus Moroni, brother and guardian of the Sacred Congregation, a brother connected to the Basilica of San Francisco, is a little nervous. More than 3 million visitors have visited the cathedral this year, and Moroni fears that number could double by 2025. The influence will be more intense in the times before and after the canonization of Acutus.
“There is this overtourism phenomenon, and it seems to be starting here as well,” says Moroni. “Assisi is a small, medieval town… with all the goodwill, it will not be so easy, but I hope that we can all make it to obtain special properties.”
Still, when some local people asked whether there was room for two saints in Assisi, Moroni disagreed. “They are not competing,” he said. “That’s the way it is and we need to see this as a very nice help to increase trust.”
Meanwhile, the official tourism of the town is using the opportunity to promote Assisi beyond its spiritual attractions, for example for art, cultural events and the cuisine of Umbria, or as a hiking destination.
“We have seen strong religious tourism in recent years because of Carlo’s restoration, but it is no longer the main reason why people come,” said Fabrizio Leggio, Assisi’s tourism advisor, adding that the proposals were used to alleviate logistical problems during the anniversary year.
“Tourism is our main economy … there will surely be days when, although we do everything we can, we will have to challenge the patience of the citizens of Assisi, who all complain from time to time, but they are also happy. the city is well visited. “