Saints

Rather than beginning with St. Maximilian Kolbe's early life or missionary work, the new film Triumph of the Heart opens at the moment many accounts conclude: his entry into the starvation cell.

Volunteers watching over the relics of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati gently placed items from the faithful on top of his casket to make a third-class relic for the visitors to the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, near Rome's Pantheon, one afternoon during the Jubilee of Youth.

Along one of Rome's busiest streets, Via del Corso, traffic moves slowly as hundreds of pilgrims crisscross traffic on foot to get to their destination.

"He is the one Englishman of that era who upheld the ancient creed with a knowledge that only theologians possess, a Shakespearean force of style, and a fervour worthy of the saints."

St. John Henry Newman -- the 19th-century theologian, intellectual and preacher who journeyed from Anglicanism to Catholicism, powerfully shaping religious thought in both faith traditions -- will be named a doctor of the church by Pope Leo XIV.

The relics of two saints-to-be — Blesseds Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis — will be in Rome for veneration during the Jubilee of Youth July 28-Aug. 3, according to worldyouthday.com.

Carlo Acutis’ awaited canonization as the first millennial saint is poised to occur in just over a month on Sept. 7.

The Church of England is weighing plans to exhume and enshrine the head of St. Thomas More , the patron saint of statesmen and politicians, in time for the 500th anniversary of his 1535 martyrdom.

Pope Leo XIV will canonize Blesseds Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati together Sept. 7, the Vatican announced.