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May 5, 2025On Monday, May 5, 2025, Bishop Paolo Martinelli, the Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia, blessed a new statue of Blessed Carlo Acutis at St. Anthony Parish in Ras Al Khaimah.
The brief ceremony was originally scheduled to take place after the canonization of Carlo Acutis, which had been planned for April 27 but was postponed following the death of Pope Francis.
St. Anthony Church is one of the designated Jubilee sites in the Apostolic Vicariate. A pilgrim pathway was created there, featuring 10 stations for prayer and meditation, each dedicated to a patron saint. The final station is devoted to youth, with Blessed Carlo Acutis as its patron. As he was the only saint without a statue, the parish commissioned one from the Malabar Missionary Brothers.
The statue has been placed behind the church in an area that will now be known as the “Youth Corner.”
The parish priest, Fr. Joy Menachery, said: “It’s a kind of new concept: since the statue is in a corner, people can sit around it or stand beside it and spend time in prayer. It’s like a youth gathering place.”
Around 300 young people attend the parish, one of the smallest in the Vicariate in terms of population. A growing number of them have also begun participating in Eucharistic adoration, following in the footsteps of Blessed Carlo, who had a profound devotion to the Eucharist.
Fr. Joy described the growing devotion to Carlo Acutis among young people in the United Arab Emirates: “The way he dressed—jeans, t-shirt, mobile phone, his hairstyle—is very appealing to youth.”
“They feel he is one of them. That to be holy, they don’t need to be or do anything extraordinary. Sainthood is possible in every state of life. They, too, can become saints. And that is a very special message.”