John L. Allen Jr.
People sit outside the Basilica of St Francis in Assisi as they attend the beatification Mass of Carlo Acutis in Assisi, Italy, in 2020. Photo: CNS/Junno Arocho Esteves Letter from Rome It was an otherwise quiet day on March 15, 2008, when an unemployed 77-year-old Russian man walked unannounced and unaccompanied through the main entrance to the Basilica of St Francis in the hillside Italian city of Assisi, quietly hoping to mill around and soak in the atmosphere. Perhaps unfortunately for him, that…
