Pope Francis blesses the statue of Carlo Acutis for the Oasi della Pietà orphanage

His Holiness Pope Francis blessed, on Wednesday 17 March 2021, the statue of Blessed Carlo Acutis, which will be placed in the "Oasi della Pieta" orphanage in Cairo, with the presence of His Excellency Domenico Sorrentino (Archbishop of Assisi), Mons. Yoannis GAID (President of the Child Jesus Association of Cairo), the family of Blessed Accutis, Don Giovanni Toni, Mr. Alvaro Machioni, Matteo and Daniela Berathuner.

It should be noted that, in June 2019, His Holiness Pope Francis donated a copy of the statue of Michelangelo's Mercy to the orphanage from which the orphanage inspired its name "Oasi della Pietà".

The Child Jesus Association of Cairo (www.bambinogesu-eg.com) is building this orphanage in the New Administrative Capital, as well as the construction of the Child Jesus Hospital in Cairo.

Biography of Blessed Carlo Acutis (1991-2006)

The eldest son of Andrea Acutis and Antonia Salzano, Carlo was born in London, where his parents were staying for his father's work, on May 3, 1991.

He spent his childhood in Milan, surrounded by the affection of his loved ones and immediately learning to love the Lord, so much so that he was admitted to First Communion when he was just seven years old. Frequent frequenter of the parish of Santa Maria Segreta in Milan, a pupil of the Marcelline Sisters in elementary and middle school, then of the Jesuit fathers in high school, he committed himself to living friendship with Jesus and filial love for the Virgin Mary, but was also attentive to the problems of the people around him, even using new technologies as an expert, albeit self-taught. Struck by a form of fulminant leukemia, he lived it as a proof to offer for the Pope and for the Church.

He left this world on 12 October 2006, in the San Gerardo hospital in Monza, at the age of fifteen. On 5 July 2018, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree declaring Venerable Charles, whose mortal remains have been resting since 6 April 2019 in Assisi, in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore - Sanctuary of the Spoliation. In the same year the Pontiff quoted Charles in the post-synodal apostolic exhortation "Christus vivit".

On February 21, 2020, he authorized the promulgation of the decree relating to a miracle attributed to the intercession of Charles, who was solemnly beatified in Assisi on the following 10 October.