SPOTLIGHT 25/09/16 Young Italian saint’s relics enshrined in South Korea

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Relics of St. Carlo Acutis have been placed in the chapel of World Youth Day 2027 organizing committee in Seoul

Auxiliary Bishop Job Yo-bi Koo of Seoul blesses a statue of St. Carlo Acutis on Sept. 16. (Photo: Archdiocese of Seoul)

By UCA News reporter

Published: September 19, 2025 07:59 AM GMT

Updated: September 19, 2025 09:18 AM GMT

South Korean Catholics have welcomed the relics of Carlo Acutis in the capital Seoul days after Pope Leo made the young Italian a saint at the Vatican.

Catholic clergy and youth involved with organizing World Youth Day (WYD) Seoul 2027 attended a Mass for the enshrinement of the relics in the chapel of the Local Organizing Committee on Sept. 17, Seoul archdiocese said.

The liturgy was presided over by Auxiliary Bishop Job Yo-bi Koo of Seoul in the presence of priests and volunteers.

Acutis (1991-2006) is known as the “Influencer of God” for his devotion to the Eucharist and use of digital media to promote Catholic devotion.

Before his death at the age of 15 due to leukaemia, Acutis created a website documenting Eucharistic miracles and Marian apparitions.

Pope Leo XIV canonized him on Sept. 7, making him the first millennial saint in the history of the Catholic Church.

During his homily, Bishop Koo told young Catholics who came to honor the teenage saint that “holiness — deep communion with God — is the only path to lasting happiness” not wealth, fame, youth, or social success as the world teaches.

“True happiness blossoms not in a self-centered life, but in a God-centered life,” Bishop Koo said, reminding young people the teaching of Carlo Acutis: “In the sun, you get a tan, but before the Eucharist, you become a saint — for it transforms our souls.”

The bishop invited the faithful to follow the saint’s example of daily Mass and Eucharistic devotion, encouraging them to “make life not a waste, but a masterpiece”.

Echoing Pope Francis’ call to holiness in today’s world, he reminded the youth that “we are each called to sanctity along our unique path, not by imitation, but by living faithfully with the gifts God has given us.”

The relics of St. Carlo Acutis are now permanently enshrined in the chapel at the WYD Seoul 2027 LOC office building.

On Sept. 16, Church-run Catholic Peace Broadcasting Corporation and Peace Newspaper announced St. Carlo Acutis as their second patron saint and blessed a new statue to be erected at their headquarters, the press release said.

World Youth Day is a weeklong global Catholic youth gathering initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1985.

During the last WYD in the Portugal’s capital Lisbon in 2023, Pope Francis announced Seoul as the host city of the next edition.