Rome Newsroom, 14 October, 2020 / 9:00 am (ACI Africa).
The Diocese of Assisi announced Wednesday that the period of public veneration of Blessed Carlo Acutis has been extended until Oct. 19 due to the number of people who wish to pray at his tomb.
Thousands of people visited the tomb of the young computer programmer and gamer last weekend, according to Bishop Domenico Sorrentino of Assisi, who said that following the Italian teen’s beatification the diocese received numerous additional requests by groups to organize visits.
The public veneration of Acutis’ tomb was originally scheduled to end with a Mass on the morning of Saturday, Oct. 17. But this has now been extended until Oct. 19 to accommodate groups who wish to visit over the weekend, Sorrentino explained.
The teen lies in repose in jeans and a pair of Nike tennis shoes in a tomb with a glass window in Assisi’s Sanctuary of Spoliation in the Church of St. Mary Major. Pilgrims stood in long lines throughout the weekend of his Oct. 10 beatification to pray before Acutis’ tomb.
Among those who traveled to Assisi to ask for Carlo Acutis’ intercession, were many young people, including a group of European students from the Emmanuel School of Mission in Rome (pictured below).