In October 2020, a portrait of 15-year-old Carlo Acutis was unveiled during a beatification ceremony at the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi, Italy.
Gregorio Borgia/AP
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Gregorio Borgia/AP
A teenage computer whiz who used the early Internet to spread the Catholic faith will become the church’s first millennium saint.
Carlo Acutis died of leukemia in 2006 at the age of 15. ” and it will be officially announced soon.
Pope Francis and a group of cardinals approved Acutis’ canonization at a meeting in the Vatican on Monday, according to Vatican News. It is said that he may be declared a saint at some point during the Church’s Jubilee Year in 2025.
A devout Catholic and computer wizard, Acutis taught himself programming as a child and created spiritually focused websites, including the acclaimed Miracle Database. He was credited with helping the homeless and protecting victims of bullying during his lifetime, and was involved in two healing miracles after his death – a required number for all Catholic saints.
Monday’s approval cleared the final hurdle in a years-long process that began in 2013 when the pope approved his cases for canonization and canonization and ordained him a “servant of God.”
There are three steps to becoming a saint in the Catholic Church.
First, the pope must declare the deceased “venerable,” officially recognizing that they lived a heroic and noble life. In order to be beatified—and considered “blessed”—they must participate in a miracle, which is usually a miracle of healing. Canonization requires a second miracle.
Acutis was beatified in October 2020 after the Vatican officially recognized him for interceding from heaven in 2013 to save the life of a Brazilian child suffering from a rare pancreatic disease. The Vatican said 4-year-old Matheus Vianna was healed after praying to Acutis and touching one of his relics, a piece of clothing.
In May of this year, Acutis achieved its second miracle. A girl from Costa Rica suffered serious head injuries after falling off her bicycle in Florence, Italy, but recovered after her mother prayed at the tomb of Acutis in Assisi.
Acutis’ mother, Antonia Salzano, told CNN in May that the approval of the second miracle was both a “tremendous joy” and a “sign of hope.”
“[With] With all the media, technology, and sometimes it seems like holiness is a thing of the past,” she said. “On the contrary, holiness is also a modern thing.
In February this year, an 18th-century Argentinian woman became the latest person to be declared a saint.
Teenagers’ hobbies include gaming and documenting wonders
Born in London in 1991 to Italian parents, Acutis is a true millennial and moved to Milan as a baby.
Although his parents were not devout Catholics, Acutis became interested in Catholicism at an early age, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. He was particularly fascinated by the Eucharist rites and often asked his parents to take him to the birthplaces of saints and places where miracles occurred.
Acutis was also fascinated by computers and taught himself how to use the Internet, programming and graphic design.
He brought these passions together by designing websites for his parish and school, and then began a larger project: documenting the Eucharistic miracles reported around the world.
Acutis eventually cataloged more than 150 wonders, listing them in a dozen languages and building downloadable web pages for each that included maps and other visuals.
The site became a tool for religious education in dioceses around the world, and the Church, then and now, praised it as a way to harness modern technology for spiritual benefit.
The website for World Youth Day Lisbon 2023 reads: “Computer genius Carlo made his computer an instrument in the service of God, making the Internet a means of evangelization and spreading his love for the Eucharist.”, Portugal, Acutis was named patron.
Acutis also enjoys playing video games—CNN says Halo, Super Mario, and Pokémon are his favorites—albeit only for an hour a week. He also plays the saxophone and enjoys football and dogs.
Acutis died in October 2006, just days after coming down with what was initially thought to be influenza but turned out to be acute myeloid leukemia.
Before his death, Acutis specifically requested that he be buried in Assisi because of his love for Saint Francis of Assisi, and he was reburied there in 2007.
Acutis’ body was exhumed in 2019 and moved to a shrine in St. Mary’s Basilica, where St. Francis is said to have shed his lavish clothing to give up his wealth.
It’s still displayed in a glass case, dressed in blue jeans, a sport zipper and Nike sneakers.
During the celebration of his beatification in October 2020, more than 41,000 people visited Acutis’ tomb despite strict COVID-19 restrictions, Catholic News Agency said.
According to the BBC , Acutis’ website has been translated into multiple languages and used as the basis for a touring exhibition. Statues have been erected in his honor in Scotland and Ireland, and Pope Francis even blessed a statue that traveled to a Cairo orphanage.
