Pier Giorgio & Luigi 

In the early hours of December 4, 2024, United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot in the back and killed while walking to a local coffee shop in midtown Manhattan. Following a four-day manhunt, police arrested 26-year-old Luigi Mangione. The photogenic son of privilege was quickly hailed online by a large number of admirers as a kind of folk hero – even a saint – for his alleged assassination of the healthcare executive. In an opinion piece appearing in the Wall Street Journal (4/9/25), Faith Bottum describes the emergence of perverse Mangione hagiography, in which he is referred to as “Saint Luigi, Patron Saint of Healthcare Access for All.” She writes: “The accused killer is depicted online with a green mantle, a red Sacred Heart, a gold halo and his hand raised in benediction.” Bottom cites the disturbing results of a poll that revealed “more than 40% of Americans age 18-29 think the shooting of the healthcare CEO was acceptable or somewhat acceptable.” It seems a growing number of young people are so morally deformed that they view murder as a legitimate means to express their political and social grievances. That’s why what Pope Leo did this weekend is so important when he canonized Pier Giorgio Frassati a saint.  

Pier Giorgio Frassati (1901-1925), like Mangione, was a photogenic son of privilege who had strong feelings about the political, social, and economic issues of his day. Frassati was energetic in his opposition to the inherently dehumanizing political philosophies of both Marxist socialism and Fascism. He was also critical of the inhumane excesses of Capitalism. While political violence was common at that time, he rejected the idea that it was ok to violate human dignity in furtherance of human dignity. As a devoted Catholic, his views were shaped by the Church’s social doctrine, or “Catholic Social Teaching,” the modern form of which was first expressed by Pope Leo XIII’s groundbreaking encyclical Rerum Novarum (1891). Having internalized Church teaching, Frassati took both political theory and action seriously, but even more so his personal responsibility to care for his neighbor and to share what he had with those in need. Possessing an enormous capacity for friendship, he often organized excursions to the mountains, inviting friends to attend Mass with Him, and encouraging them to live virtuously. Who knows what would have happened to Luigi Mangione if he had had a friend like St. Pier Giorgio Frassati in his life? 

Sadly, too few of us Catholics have been formed in the wisdom of the social doctrine of the Church, for it has much to offer our confused age. It upholds the inherent dignity of every human person and the unique importance of the family. It defends the dignity of work and rights of workers and advances common good principles such as solidarity, subsidiarity, the universal destination of goods, and the preferential option for the poor. Our new saint offers us a compelling example of Catholic Social Teaching lived out. If you’d like to learn more about him, check out A Man of the Beatitudes by Luciana Frassati. If you are interested in learning more about the Church’s social doctrine, you might find Terrence Wright’s book Dorothy Day: An Introduction to Her Life and Thought a helpful primer. 

posted 9/6/25