During a meeting with around 350 delegates from the Roman Charity association Circolo San Pietro (the Circle of St. Peter), the Pope gave a speech in which he discussed the good works of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, who was an active member of the Italian Catholic Action in Turin, and cited him as an example for the members of the association.
As has occurred before when Pope Francis has given public addresses,
he made a sudden additional comment, “spontaneously” adding, reports Aleteia, that Frassati “will be a saint soon”.
“Pier
Giorgio was from a wealthy family, upper class, but he did not grow up
‘in cotton wool’,” Pope Francis was telling the association. “He did not
lose himself in the ‘good life,’ because in him was the sap of the Holy
Spirit, there was love for Jesus and for his brothers and sisters.”
At this point, Aleteia reports, the pontiff left the script to mention that Frassati “will be a saint soon”.
Pier Giorgio Frassati was a young Italian man from the Piedmont region who devoted his short life to serving the poor, before dying of polio in 1925 aged 24 years old. He was beatified by John Paul II in 1990 and is expected to be canonised during the 2025 Jubilee.
In April 2024, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery
for the Causes of Saints, announced that the canonisation of Pier
Giorgio Frassati “is now clear on the horizon and looming for the next
Jubilee year”.
The Jubilee is expected to attract millions of pilgrims to Rome in 2025. Frassati could possibly be canonised during the Youth Jubilee, reports Aleteia, which is scheduled to take place from July 28 to August 3 in 2025.
During
his pontificate, Pope Francis has garnered a reputation as a fine
orator, while also being prone to speaking off the cuff, a habit that
has on occasion landed him in trouble.
This time, though, his unexpected comment is unlikely to prove contentious.
The Circolo San Pietro was founded by young people in 1869 at the encouragement of Pope Pius IX to provide meals for the poor in Rome.
The charity currently distributes 45,000 meals a year in its three canteens. It also runs a night shelter which counts around 8,500 overnight stays a year and provides psychological, legal and administrative advice to those in need.