Millennials will soon have their first video-gamer saint when Carlo Acutis is canonized later this month, but auctioning off relics purported to be tied to \u201cGod\u2019s influencer\u201d online is a no-go, according to an Italian archbishop. <\/p>\n
The statement comes after an anonymous vendor tried to sell strands of Acutis\u2019 hair online. Bids reached $2,200 before the lot was removed after Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino \u2013 who leads the diocese of Assisi where Acutis\u2019 body is being kept and where the supposed relics were being auctioned off \u2013 called the police. <\/p>\n
Relics, from strands of hair to bone fragments, have long been important devotional items for the Catholic faithful, and the Church encourages praying in front of relics of saints and saints-to-be, but canon law prohibits their sale, according to Sorrentino. <\/p>\n
They can be given away by their owner or by bishops, while significant relics, such as hearts and organs, cannot be given away without permission from the Vatican. But this can never be for financial compensation, Sorrentino said in a video posted on the diocese website. <\/p>\n
\u201cAfter we verified the auction on the internet, we decided to file a complaint. What can the idol of money lead to\u2026 I fear that Satan has a hand in it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Sorrentino filed a complaint with the police in Perugia, which is investigating the sale of the purported relics. \u201cWe have asked for their seizure,\u201d Sorrentino said on the diocese website. \u201cWe do not know whether the relics are real or false, but even if it were all invented, if there was deception, we would be in the presence of not only a scam, but also an insult to religious sentiment.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThe business of relics trading is prevalent, Sorrentino added. \u201cOn the internet there is a market of relics that concern various saints, such as our Francis (of Assisi), with a price list. Something (that is) impossible to accept,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Acutis, who died of leukemia in 2006 at the age of 15, is widely recognized as a model of Christian life for young believers and who Sorrentino said will be a sort of \u201cpatron saint of the internet\u201d once he is canonized. <\/p>\n
That ceremony will take place in St. Peter\u2019s Square in Vatican City on April 27. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Millennials will soon have their first video-gamer saint when Carlo Acutis is canonized later this month, but auctioning off relics purported to be tied to \u201cGod\u2019s influencer\u201d online is a no-go, according to an Italian archbishop. The statement comes after an anonymous vendor tried to sell strands of Acutis\u2019 hair online. Bids reached $2,200 before…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5187,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}