‘Carlo Acutis, I am in your hands’: Catholic pediatrician recovers from cancer

ACI Prensa Staff, Feb 19, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

With a radiant smile, pediatric physician María Dolores Rosique, who goes by “Lola” among family and friends, recounted with renewed faith her testimony of healing after overcoming aggressive abdominal cancer. She testifies that her recovery began after visiting the tomb of Blessed Carlo Acutis in Assisi, Italy, and placing herself completely under his care.

“I always say that the illness I had has given me many more good things than bad. One of them is having reaffirmed my faith. Today I know that without the Lord I am nothing and can’t achieve anything,” she said in an interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.

In 2022 Rosique, a 44-year-old Spaniard and pediatrician by profession, was enjoying one of the best times of her life with her husband, Pablo, her three teenage daughters aged 17, 15, and 12, and her 7-year-old son. However, it was then, in the midst of a family trip to the Italian region of Tuscany, that her life took an unexpected turn, having to undergo a trial that would challenge her faith.

The physician confessed that earlier that year she had been feeling somewhat unwell: “I had digestive discomfort in my abdomen. I went to the doctor and had ultrasounds, they even asked me to have an endoscopy. I had those tests done and everything came out fine,” she related.

However, months later, one night during her family trip to Tuscany, Rome, and the Vatican, she felt pain in her abdomen and when she felt that area, she was immediately certain that she had cancer. “I knew it for sure from the first minute, because I have the sixth sense of my profession. I didn’t know if the cancer was in the liver, in the pancreas, but at that moment life took a sudden turn for us.”

“We went from being in paradise to feeling like we were falling into hell,” she said.

Rosique said that from that moment on, while it hasn’t been an easy road, it has been “a wonderful journey,” since they have felt “supported by the love and prayers of so many people, by our family and, of course, by the Lord himself.”

“It’s been a tough process: two very aggressive surgeries, intraperitoneal chemotherapy, many difficulties … but it’s been two years since then, and thank God, I am now free of illness,” she said with a smile.

According to Rosique, she didn’t ask Blessed Carlo Acutis to grant her a miraculous healing but rather that her illness not be so serious so that she could see her daughters grow up.

“The real miracle is not just that I am alive — which of course is a blessing — but the spiritual impact that this has had on me, on my family, and on many of my women friends who were far from the Lord. As a result of this experience, many people have come back to God. And, of course, I couldn’t be happier, because that is the real miracle,” she explained.

Carlo Acutis and Rosique: the first meeting

When the disease appeared, Rosique remembered that they were experiencing “a super happy time” in their lives. Her daughters were growing up and “no longer required so much physical effort” to take care of their needs. “My job was stable and everything was working well, without any major setbacks,” she said.

When she told her husband about the cancer, Pablo remained calm and offered her two options: return to Spain immediately or wait for the boat to leave in three days. However, she made it clear that if they decided to stay, they should face it calmly, without letting themselves be overcome by sadness.

“The sensible thing was to wait. Three days were not going to change anything and, at least, we could enjoy ourselves together. So we tried to do the best we could. I swallowed hard more than once, but I asked the Lord to give us strength, to unite us even more, in case a difficult time awaited us, as we later found out it would be,” she recounted.

As they headed to the boat they were going to take from Tuscany to Rome, still with several hours to spare before setting sail, Pablo suggested stopping in Assisi, even though it was not part of their initial plans.

“Now I know it was not just a coincidence. Everything has a meaning. The providence of the Holy Spirit enlightens you when you least expect it. So, when visiting Assisi and the Church of St. Francis, I felt the presence of Our Lord, I knew that he was there, that he would not leave us,” Rosique recalled.

At that point her greatest concern was that her daughters would be left so young without their mother. Faced with that possibility, she prayed to God: “Lord, do it for them. Really I don’t want anything for myself.”

“It wasn’t healing that I sought for myself. I felt complete, with God, with everything he had given me. But I thought about my daughters, that they needed their mother. That was when an unexpected turning point came,” she said. 

While Rosique was thinking these thoughts, Pablo suddenly noticed that the shops in Assisi were full of photos, rosaries, and holy cards with the image of Blessed Carlo Acutis, a young man they had barely heard of at his daughters’ school. Intrigued, he did a little more research and searching on Google, discovered with astonishment that the body of the Blessed Carlo was only 300 meters away. 

Rosique felt exhausted, both physically and emotionally, and at that moment all she could think about was getting something to eat and going back to the car. At first, she didn’t want to go view the blessed’s remains, but her daughters insisted. “In the end, I think it was the Holy Spirit, or even Carlo, who through my daughters dragged me there, because on my own I would never have gone up” to see him, she confessed.

“We went to the Church of St. Mary Major, where Carlo’s body lies. We got there and found a side nave where his body rests. Right in front there is a bench to sit on and pray. I flopped down there exhausted, in the most difficult moment of our lives. I asked him for so many things… But above all for my four children. I told him: ‘Carlo, I don’t know what I’m doing here at this moment, I don’t know what I’m doing here, but God knows more and here I am.’ And then I made him two requests,” she said in the interview.

Rosique had the opportunity to write her intention on a little note and put it in the box provided for intentions. First, she asked Carlo that her children and the young people in her family would always be close to the Eucharist as he was, because she knew that this was his great love and his “highway to heaven.”

Then, she begged him that her situation not be “too serious.”

“I didn’t ask him to have nothing [wrong] but that it not be too serious, so that I could see my daughters grow up and accompany them during those years. I surrendered myself completely and told him: ‘Carlo, I am here in your hands. I have to ask for intercession through you, because you brought me here,’” Rosique said. 

Rosique and her family then prayed together. Her children lifted up their prayers and her husband also stood for a moment in front of Carlo’s body. Shortly after, they left the church.

As she walked through the door, something changed. On the one hand, she felt an immense spiritual peace. “When you say: ‘This is no longer up to me, Carlo, I’m leaving it here with you,’ you feel a profound sense of relief,” she recalled. But she also experienced something physical.

Suddenly, Rosique felt better, like she hadn’t in months. She was pain-free, her body strong. “It was an amazing feeling of well-being,” she explained. And in that instant, she understood. “I think it was a caress from the Lord, telling me: ‘Be calm, you are not alone. Whatever happens, you are not alone.’”

At that moment, Rosique knew with certainty that she was going to be cured.

Return to Spain, diagnosis, and healing

Returning to Spain, Rosique and her family prepared for the medical tests and everything that would come next. The first test indicated that she had a tumor in her ovary. “It was very widespread throughout the abdomen,” she explained. It affected the peritoneum, the membrane that covers the inside of the abdomen, and there were tumorous growths everywhere. Although the doctors confirmed that it had not reached the lung or the brain, in the abdomen, it was practically everywhere.

The diagnosis was clear: a malignant and very advanced tumor. Lola had to face the difficult task of breaking the news to her family, since she had been given between six months and a year to live. However, after an initial surgery, they discovered that the tumor was not in the ovary but in the appendix.

This new diagnosis changed everything, since appendix cancer, although aggressive within the abdomen, has a much better prognosis, Lola explained. It does not spread to vital organs such as the brain or lungs and its malignancy is less lethal. Despite the extent of the tumor, the news turned out to be much more hopeful.

“When we told them about it, my sisters asked us if they could spread the news so that people would pray,” she recalled. Without hesitation, she said yes, and thus began an amazing prayer chain.

“That is the communion of saints: When one person cannot do it alone, suddenly the whole Church — in earth and in heaven — unites in prayer. It was incredible to see the power of prayer and how it reached different places in the world. I know that there were people praying for me in many countries, people who did not even know me,” Rosique related.

That same afternoon, Rosique’s parents went to the church next to their house, where they attend daily Mass. They asked the pastor, Father Leandro, to pray for their daughter. He, in addition to committing to do so, suggested that Rosique receive the anointing of the sick the next day.

“I am quite docile, so I decided to go,” Rosique said. For her, this sacrament has a deep meaning when it is received with an open heart.

In the sacristy, in a private moment with her husband and the priest, Father Leandro began with some readings and then asked her to kneel. “He placed his hands on my head and, while I was praying, I felt the Lord himself anointing me. It was a moment of indescribable grace,” she recalled. At that moment, completely surrendered, she prayed within herself: “Lord, if you have been able to cure paralytics, lepers, have converted prostitutes and sinners… well, if you want, you can cure me, right?”

When they finished, as they were saying goodbye, her husband mentioned that they had been in Italy. Suddenly, Father Leandro seemed to remember something and asked them to wait. He returned with an object in his hand and asked them: “Do you know who Carlo Acutis is?”

Rosique and her husband were in shock. Then the priest showed them a second-class relic: a piece of cloth from Carlo Acutis’ clothes. “I’ll leave this with you until you are cured,” he told them. 

At that moment, Rosique felt that Carlo would accompany her on her journey. “I thought, ‘Carlo, you and I are going to make a great team,’” she recalled. Since then, she has asked for everyone’s intercession in prayer for her healing.

“Before people began to pray, my husband and I felt like we were holding hands in a completely dark place, not knowing where to go. But when they began to pray for us, it was as if a carpet of light was rolled out in front of us, showing us the way. At that moment, I knew without a doubt that I was not alone, that I was not lost, that we were with him,” Rosique said.

On this difficult journey, Rosique had to undergo two aggressive surgeries, receive chemotherapy, and deal with difficulties. However, two years later, her reality is very different. Now, with gratitude, she can say that she is in remission.

‘Carlo is like another member of the family’

Blessed Carlo Acutis occupies a special place in Rosique’s life today. “Carlo is one more [person] in my house. We talk about him as if he were here, like another member of the family.” 

Thanks to her testimony, many people have learned the story of this young blessed. “The Lord has used me as an instrument so that his story reaches many people.”

Rosique also keeps the second-degree relic of Carlo Acutis, although she doesn’t keep it only for herself: “On several occasions, in prayer, Carlo has made me feel that I should share it and not keep it for myself.” For this reason, she has shared it with those she believes he himself has arranged.

“I’m like, I don’t know how to tell you, an apostle of Carlo. I’m going to spread his message, his devotion,” she emphasized.

She also highlighted the testimony of love that this young man gave to the world: “You don’t have to be 40 years old to go to Mass every day. Carlo always had an unconditional love for the Eucharist and even today he teaches us how to live love and charity toward the poor, whom he helped so much.”

A new perspective on faith

One of the great changes in Rosique’s life, she said, is that her “love for the Eucharist” has intensified. “Now my life, Pablo’s life and mine, begins with Mass at 7:15 in the Murcia cathedral, asking for the grace to get through the day.”

“I’ve gone back to work, thank God, and I believe that, through my work, I can reach many people,” she said. Her mission is not only professional but also spiritual: “I can communicate the joy of the Gospel, even if in small doses, to patients and their families.”

From her experience, she has learned a key lesson: “The Lord has taught me that we don’t have the means to control everything.” She admits that she used to be a “quite controlling” person, but God showed her that “the most important things don’t depend on me. It’s a matter of letting him guide me.”

“I have learned to trust and to unload my worries on him. ‘Lord, You will know if it’s the right thing to do, if it’s not appropriate, if it should be done, if it should not be done… I trust in you,’” she continued.

In addition to her personal testimony, Rosique has begun evangelizing her women friends who were far from the faith. “For a few months now, I have been doing something we call ‘mini-catechesis.’ Once a month I give them a short catechism based on the catechism,” she explained.

Her mission in life is clear for her: “I know that, for the moment, the Lord is calling me to this: to share my testimony, which is helping some people. Wherever he may call me, I’m going.”

Since her physical healing, Rosique has also encouraged others to open their eyes to the presence of God in the midst of suffering: “Pay attention to the small details. See Our Lady and the Lord in the people who care for you: in those who accompany you, in the priest who brings you Communion. Behind all of them, there is the Lord. He does not leave us alone.”

“In the end, we are made for something much greater, and there are times when heaven cannot wait,” she concluded.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/262289/carlo-acutis-i-am-in-your-hands-catholic-pediatrician-recovers-from-cancer