in photo above, Pope Francis poses with a group of children during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Nov. 20, 2024. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis announced that he will canonize Blesseds Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati next year and that the Vatican will host a world meeting on the rights of the child Feb. 3.
The pope will canonize Blessed Acutis April 27, during the Jubilee for Adolescents in Rome April 25-27 and Blessed Frassati during the Jubilee of Young People in Rome July 28-Aug. 3.
The pope made the announcement during his general audience in St. Peter's Square Nov. 20, which is World Children's Day.
The annual celebration marks the date when the U.N. General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959 and when the assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989.
"On the occasion of the International Day of the Rights of the Child and Adolescents that is celebrated today," the pope said he wanted to announce holding a world meeting at the Vatican.
The World Leaders' Summit on Children's Rights will be dedicated to the theme of "Let's love them and protect them," and it will include experts and celebrities from different countries, the pope said.
"It will be an occasion to pinpoint new paths directed at better assisting and protecting children still without rights who live in precarious conditions. They are exploited and abused and suffer the dramatic consequences of wars," he said.
A small group of children involved in preparing for the Feb. 3 meeting joined the pope for a photograph after the announcement along with Franciscan Father Enzo Fortunato, coordinator of the church's first World Children's Day, which was held in Rome May 25.
Read the rest of the story at https://www.usccb.org/news/2024/pope-says-hell-canonize-acutis-frassati-host-meeting-childs-rights