Carlo Acutis: ‘God’s Influencer’ And First Millennial Saint
Born in London and raised in Italy, Acutis designed websites to share his Catholic faith and is believed to have performed two miracles.
The Catholic Church on Sunday declared Carlo Acutis, who died in 2006 from Leukaemia at the age of 15, a saint in a public ceremony at St Peter’s Square in Vatican City.
A computer geek of Italian heritage, Acutis used his computer expertise to promote the Catholic faith, creating a website that recorded accounts of miracles.
On Sunday, he was declared a saint by Pope Leo XIV, alongside Pier Giorgio Frassati, a young Catholic activist who died a hundred years ago.
An hour before the ceremony, tens of thousands of pilgrims from across the globe, including many millennials from Italy and America, gathered in St Peter’s Square, with Acutis’ family watching on.
Known as “God’s influencer,” he is regarded as a trailblazer in the Church’s efforts to evangelise through digital platforms.
“The greatest risk in life is to waste it outside of God’s plan,” Pope Leo said, according to The Guardian. The two saints “are an invitation to all of us, especially young people, not to squander our lives, but to direct them upwards,” he added.
Acutis’ mother, Antonia Salzano, attended the canonisation Mass alongside her family, which included Carlo’s younger siblings, both born after his passing.
Speaking to The Guardian, Salzano explained that although the family was not especially devout, her son displayed a strong commitment to the Catholic faith from childhood.
“We lived in the centre of Milan in a building surrounded by beggars. He wanted to help them, speak to them, bring them food and blankets,” she was quoted as saying.
Acutis was born in London on May 3, 1991, into an affluent family. Shortly after his birth, the family relocated to Milan.
In October 2006, just 15 years old, he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukaemia and passed away within a few days. His remains were laid to rest in Assisi, a town closely linked with the revered St Francis.
A BBC report quoted his mother as saying, “The first miracle, he did on the day of the funeral…A woman with breast cancer prayed (for) Carlo and she had to start chemotherapy and the cancer disappeared completely."
Pope Francis acknowledged two such miracles by Acutis: one concerning a young boy in Brazil who recovered from a rare pancreatic disorder and another involving a student in Florence who survived a severe brain hemorrhage after his mother sought blessings at Acutis’ tomb in Assisi.
