Cnn
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The millennials will soon have their first holy gamer video when Carlo Acutis will be canonized later this month, but the chosen auctions claimed to be linked to “the influencer of God” online is a non-go, according to an Italian archbishop.
The declaration comes after an anonymous seller tried to sell wicks of acutis hair online. The offers reached $ 2,200 before the lot was removed after the Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino – who directs the diocese of Assisi where the body of Acutis is kept and where the supposed relics were sold at auction – called the police.
The relics, from strands of hair to bone fragments, have long been important devotion objects for the Catholic faithful, and the church encourages prayer before the relics of saints and saints, but canon law prohibits their sale, according to Sorrentino.
They can be given by their owner or by bishops, while important relics, such as hearts and organs, cannot be given without the authorization of the Vatican. But this can never be intended for financial compensation, said Sorrentino in a video published on the diocese website.
“After checking the auction on the internet, we decided to file a complaint. What can he lead to the money idol … I fear that Satan contributed to it,” he said.
Sorrentino filed a complaint with the Pérugie police, who investigates the sale of the alleged relics. “We asked for their crisis,” Sorrentino said on the diocese website. “We do not know if the relics are real or false, but even if everything was invented, if there was deception, we would be in the presence not only of a scam, but also an insult to religious feeling.”
“The activity of the relics trade is widespread,” added Sorrentino. “On the Internet, there is a relic market that concerns various saints, like our Francis (Assii), with a price list. Something (it’s) impossible to accept, “he said.
Acutis, who died of leukemia in 2006 at the age of 15, was widely recognized as a model of Christian life for young believers and that Sorrentino said it was a kind of “internet patron saint” once cannonized.
This ceremony will take place on Saint-Pierre square in the city of Vatican on April 27.
The lamb of Christopher de CNN contributed the reports.