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The Jubilee, also known as the Holy Year, is in full swing with visitors flocking to Rome, the Vatican City and across Italy.
In St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, Pope Leo XIV is scheduled to preside over the canonization of Carlo Acutis, a millennial computer programmer, and Italian student and avid outdoorsman Pier Giorgio Frassati.
Fr. Charlie Gallagher, pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in Washington, D.C., has traveled to Rome for the ceremony.
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“The atmosphere here is already one of expectant joy, even electric,” Gallagher told Fox News Digital from Rome.
The Vatican anticipates that over 32 million pilgrims will travel during the Jubilee year, according to the U.S. Embassy in Italy.
Fr. Charlie Gallagher of Washington, D.C., traveled to Rome to witness Pope Leo XIV’s canonization of two modern saints. (Fr. Charlie Gallagher)
“I know there are dozens [of people] from D.C. here [and] there is a small group of about six from my parish,” Gallagher added.
He anticipates a crowd of at least 250,000 worshipers on Sunday.
He says this canonization is very personal for him, as he has a deep connection to Pier Giorgio Frassati.
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“I took Pier Giorgio Frassati as my patron. When I decided to become a priest, I started corresponding with Giorgio’s niece, Wanda,” said Gallagher. “Pier Giorgio died in 1925. The next year, his sister Luciana gave birth to Wanda.”
Gallagher has known Wanda for 20 years. He met with her as a seminarian in Rome and asked her how her uncle has impacted her.
Pope Leo XIV will canonize saints Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati on Sunday in St. Peter’s Sqaure. (Massimo Valicchia/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
“Pope John Paul II called Frassati the ‘Man of the Beatitudes,’ as he showed us what it means to live out the full spectrum of the Gospel. Frassati was a volcano of joy and spontaneity,” said Gallagher.
“With every corner of his heart, he models the most effective way to win our friends to Jesus Christ.”
Gallagher said that even though Carlo Acutis was very smart, he did not always do well in school – even failing an exam.
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“His mom asked him why, and he said he had more important things to do, like spread devotion to the Eucharist by promoting Eucharistic miracles.”
The Vatican anticipates over 32 million pilgrims will travel to Rome during the Jubilee year. (Grzegorz Galazka/Archivio Grzegorz Galazka/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)
Gallagher lived in Rome for four years while a seminarian at the North American College in 2007.
He said that while being in the capital city, so many memories have come to mind. “It is a blessing to visit my favorite churches and to enjoy some authentic Carbonara!”
It was Pope Francis, according to The Associated Press, who fervently willed the Acutis sainthood case forward — convinced that the church needed someone like him to attract young Catholics to the faith while addressing the promises and perils of the digital age.
Carlo Acutis, seen here prior to his leukemia diagnosis, died at age 15. (Carlo Acutis Association)
Pope Leo inherited the Acutis cause, but he, too, has pointed to technology — especially artificial intelligence — as one of the main challenges facing humanity.
Frassati lived his faith through “constant, humble, mostly hidden service to the poorest of Turin,” noted the Frassati Catholic Academy. “He lived simply and gave away food, money or anything that anyone asked of him.” He died in his early 20s of polio.
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It is believed that he contracted the illness from those he ministered to in the slums of Turin, Italy.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.