This is the second article in a series profiling the six men who will be ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Boston at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on May 17, 2025.



CHESTNUT HILL -- Deacon Vincenzo Caruso was once a very cynical young man.

Growing up in Naples, Italy, he believed that he would never be loved by anyone besides his own family. His dyslexia made him the target for some bullying in school, but his self-described thick skin and fiery character (which he said is typical of Neapolitans) helped him through it. He spent a good deal of his young life feeling weird and unloved, until he discovered the Neocatechumenal Way in his local parish.

"It was then I heard something that I never heard in my life anywhere else: that God loves you in the way that you are," Deacon Caruso, 32, recalled in February. "I was forced to face the truth. That there is someone who loves me the way that I am."

Deacon Caruso is now a seminarian at Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Chestnut Hill and a transitional deacon at Immaculate Conception Parish in Revere. Immaculate Conception is a multi-ethnic parish, and Deacon Caruso has gotten to know the challenges faced by the English-speaking, Hispanic, and Brazilian communities who worship there. He recently took some of the parish youth ice skating in Boston. He was touched to see the smiles on their faces.

"To see that just for a moment, they said they received an announcement of the love of Christ, because also we have spoken about Christ to them," he said. "That for me was everything that I could ever ask him in life, now to see that God is choosing me to work for him."

When he is ordained to the priesthood, Deacon Caruso wants to give others the love that God has given him. He said that God called him to the priesthood even though he felt like a "mess," despite his sins and his past regrets. God gave him dignity, purpose, and identity.

"I cannot find the words to describe how God has been great with me," he said, "and being able to serve his people, just to be able to serve as much as God has served me, just for me, just makes me happy."

Deacon Caruso was the youngest of four children, born on the outer edge of the city of Naples. His father was a Communist politician and member of the Naples City Council who worked for Enel, the largest electricity supplier in Italy. That occupation inspired Deacon Caruso's childhood career goals.

"I dreamed to be an engineer," he said. "Actually, I pursued it. But then God was very good to me, and he showed me the truth."

He described his childhood as typical. He went to school, watched cartoons, learned guitar, and played soccer with his friends, though he's the first to admit he wasn't a very good athlete.

"It was very chaotic," he said about growing up in Naples. "Even though everything's super close, the traffic makes everything so far."

He "pretty much grew up as an only child" due to the age gap between him and his older brothers. The only sibling who lived with him was his sister Maria, and he would go everywhere with her, including her dates with prospective suitors. He was there to make sure nothing bad happened to her.

"It was a very strong bond of siblings," he said.

Deacon Caruso grew up in the church and received the sacraments, but his family was not too involved in their local parish until he was a teenager pondering the meaning of life. The local priest, who would bless homes in the neighborhood every year before Christmas and Easter, invited his family to a series of catecheses. It was there that Deacon Caruso first discovered the Neocatechumenal Way, and his father left politics and began to focus on his faith. Shortly after discovering the Way, as it is often called, he attended World Youth Day in Cologne in 2005 and heard Pope Benedict XVI speak about vocations.

"A question began in myself, and I said, 'Maybe this is what I'm looking for, the happiness that I'm looking for,'" he said.

The call grew louder when an older priest visited his parish. He saw the priest give money to a poor man, and saw how content the priest seemed with life.

"I wanted to have this same happiness," he said.

After high school, he entered the University of Naples Federico II to study electrical engineering. During his freshman year, he went on a retreat outside the city, where he spent his time praying, studying Scripture, and attending Mass.

"In that moment I jumped, I said yes," he recalled. "I stood up, I felt something that was weird, which was like a stone was removed from my chest."

After one year in university, he broke up with the girl he was dating and came to the Redemptoris Mater Seminary. He was surprised at how many different types of cuisine were available in Boston. His favorite new foods are sushi, Hispanic cuisine (especially tostones), and clam chowder.

After a few years at the seminary, he left for a time because he was not sure that God was truly calling him to the priesthood. He later understood that the seminary was where he was meant to be, especially as he studied the letter of St. Paul to the Galatians: "You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?"

"This stuck out to me, and I was praying, and I immediately understood that I was afraid, and I ran away," he said. "So then I began again."

He returned to study theology and then spent four years in mission work in the Midwest. Much of this in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which he said was beautiful and tough at the same time.

"God gave me the grace to do work with the people there, and I felt really in love with the mission, with the providence of God," he said.

He saw families reunite and young people struggling with alcohol and drug addiction hear the same saving message that he heard. He still keeps in touch with some of the families he met there.

Looking back, he said leaving the seminary was "fundamental" for his vocation.

"It was phenomenal because I discovered another face of God, of Christ that I didn't know, which was how merciful and how gentle God is," he said.

Deacon Caruso said that, through his formation, God has always been there, leading him.

"I am very happy to see, first of all, the goodness of God and the faithfulness of God," he said.

That is what he wants to share with people when he becomes a priest.

"This love that is able to rebuild the life of people," he said. "I want to share this. This is my goal, to bring them to Christ, share my experience."