Shocking attack by malign theologian behind the attempted suppression of the Latin Mass on "flawed, defective, and one-sided understanding" of the Mass held by Saint Carlo Acutis

Translation originally published in June

Young Carlo Acutis and Eucharistic Rudeness

by Andrea Grillo

How is it possible that a young blessed can communicate such an outdated, burdensome, obsessive Eucharistic theology, so focused on the inessential and so neglectful of the crucial things? How is it possible that the entire journey the Church has made over the past 70 years, in terms of understanding the ecclesial value of the Eucharist and its celebration, has been communicated so distortedly to this ardent young communicator, suggesting such a flawed, defective, and one-sided understanding? Who indulged his interest in "miracles," neglecting the true miracle?

I wondered what the reasons for this minor scandal lie. To learn more, I searched the official website of the Carlo Acutis Association, located at https://www.carloacutis.com/. The section dedicated to Eucharistic miracles is truly unique. It is perhaps the clearest evidence of the distortion of perspective and vision that was perhaps inadvertently suggested to Carlo, or more likely clumsily reworked and then imposed on him, by bad teachers. Carlo should have been defended, not handed over to them. If you examine the section (found at https://www.miracolieucaristici.org/it/Liste/list.html/), you can read, at the beginning, three texts written by Cardinal Comastri, Msgr. Raffaello Martinelli, and Father Roberto Coggi O.P. These are rather unusual texts, as they seem to come from another world, from isolated offices or rooms without communication. For a saintly "super-communicator," this seems quite a paradox.

Let's start with the Cardinal, who gets off to a very bad start: he recalls being criticized for a book he wrote years earlier on Eucharistic miracles. But let's read the text of this unfortunate attack in his Preface:

"A few years ago, I published a study on Eucharistic miracles, but, to my great surprise, I received a letter challenging the collected documentation, arguing that the Eucharistic 'bleedings' were the product of a naive age, easily inclined to fabricate miracles. I was greatly distressed by this assertion. And the reason was simple: things were not so; the facts speak unequivocally. Wasn't Padre Pio, a man of the twentieth century, a living Eucharistic miracle?"

On the threshold of an "exhibition" of Eucharistic miracles, such an unnecessarily personal and off-topic opening (what does Padre Pio have to do with it?) seems a bit out of place and without any real relevance to the topic.

But let's move on to the second, more extensive text by Msgr. Martinelli. Here the tone changes and we enter a very detailed discussion, but one that begins by stating that Eucharistic miracles are not "objects of faith." Excellent. But then the author, who must justify his presentation, begins to illustrate the "positivity" of Eucharistic miracles. Here is the pars construens

"Eucharistic miracles can be a useful and fruitful aid to our faith. For example, they can:

Help us go beyond the visible, the sensible, to admit the existence of a beyond, a hereafter.

Precisely because it is recognized as an extraordinary event, the Eucharistic miracle cannot be explained by scientific facts and reasoning; it goes beyond human reason, and challenges us, urging us to 'go beyond' the sensible, the visible, the human—that is, to admit that there is something incomprehensible, inexplicable by human reason alone, scientifically unprovable.

They offer the opportunity to speak, in catechesis, of public Revelation and its importance for the Church and Christians."

I ask the reader: what kind of reasoning is this? Are miracles "opportunities" to talk about something else?

This is followed by a long section on "public revelation," but the discussion of the Eucharist, in its ecclesial value, remains entirely outside the text.

Finally, Roberto Coggi's text puts the icing on the cake. Right at the beginning of his Introduction, he writes:

"We know the Catholic doctrine regarding the Real Presence. With the words of consecration: 'This is my Body,' 'This is my Blood,' the substance of the bread becomes the Body of Christ, and the substance of the wine becomes his Blood."

Perhaps someone should have updated the Dominican father on the fact that the 1970 reform of the Missal changed what he believes to be "Catholic doctrine," but that's just his imagination. The words of the "formula" aren't just those he cites, but include many others: "Take this and eat it, all of you: this is my body given up for you," and then "Take this and drink it, all of you: this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, poured out for you and for all, for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me." It's not at all surprising that a culture of Eucharistic miracles, which forgets the one "miracle," is tied to a minimal, dry, and outdated interpretation of both the consecration and the Eucharistic celebration. It's helpful that, immediately afterward, Father Coggi correctly reiterates Thomas Aquinas's theory on Eucharistic miracles. But that theory, precisely, eliminates any possibility of a "miracle": the body and blood are merely "appearances" of the bread and wine. This should rule out the valorisation of the miracle, especially by highlighting its limitations. Especially when it comes to a 14-year-old teenager!

And yet these are the three official speeches, presenting the "exhibition on Eucharistic miracles." That this feature is used as an "argument" in favor of Carlo's sainthood is truly astonishing. Should we perhaps go so far as to say: we recognize him as a saint "despite his distorted fixation on Eucharistic miracles"? The issue is actually more serious, because it concerns not a young adolescent, but the false teachers who surrounded him during his life and who, after his death, want to project their own bad theology onto him as an example.

Eucharistic rudeness is not a problem for young Carlo, whose short life nevertheless carries with it a light. The problem isn't with the adolescent, but with the adults who put these words, these images, these reconstructions, these unbalanced and unhealthy interests in their mouths. It's a Eucharistic rudeness that isn't ashamed to write Prefaces, Presentations, and Introductions, which indeed seem to have been written by adolescents with no theological training in the "true" and "only" Eucharistic miracle of ecclesial communion. On this aspect, which truly justifies the centrality of the Eucharist in the life of Christians, none of the three authors has spent a single line. What am I saying, a single word, if not by mistake, quoting the catechism, but almost absentmindedly. The true heart of the Eucharist, the unity between the sacramental body and the ecclesial body, is erased and forgotten. Ultimately, it's something rarely encountered, especially by adults. Should this form of grave Eucharistic rudeness perhaps become, through Carlo, its first victim, a model to propose to all young people? Are we really joking? Who would be so bold – and so cold-hearted – as to sustain such absurdity?

Source

See also Grillo shows hatred and disgust for fellow Catholics

See more on Grillo and Traditionis Custodes.  More on his denial of transubstantiation as above.

And for reasons that I cannot understand he posted this on his facebook page

"Since tomorrow, 7 September, the canonisation of Carlo Acutis will be made official, this fact brings with it new responsibilities. It will be necessary for the Church authority to formally ask the official website carloacutis.com to remove from the platform the possibility of connecting with the webcam pointed at the saint's remains. An obscene element is incompatible with canonisation. Any neglect in this regard would be considered intolerable. The patron saint of the internet cannot become a victim of internet abuse. "

What is obscene about keeping vigil at the relics of a saint?   But this was the theologian who thinks the Mass has an erotic element.

All my blog posts on Saint Carlo Acutis.