Carlo Acutis, a young Italian teenager with a passion for technology, has been canonized as the first millennial saint of the Catholic Church. Born in London in 1991 and raised in Milan, Acutis’s life was cut short by leukemia at the age of 15 in 2006. Despite his brief time on Earth, Acutis left an indelible mark on the world, earning the moniker “God’s Influencer” for his innovative use of technology to spread faith and spirituality.
Acutis’s journey to sainthood began in 2018 when he was beatified after a miracle was attributed to his intercession. The Vatican recognized that a boy from Brazil had miraculously recovered from a rare pancreatic disease after touching one of Acutis’s t-shirts. This extraordinary event set Acutis on the path to sainthood.
On Thursday, Pope Francis greenlit a second miracle attributed to Acutis, paving the way for his canonization. This miracle involved a boy who suffered severe head trauma in July 2022. The boy’s scans initially showed a devastating brain injury. However, after his mother prayed at Acutis’s tomb, the scans miraculously revealed that the brain injury had disappeared.
Acutis’s canonization has been met with joy and celebration by Catholics around the world. His remains now lie in a tomb with a glass side at the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Assisi. Dressed in jeans, trainers, and a sweatshirt, Acutis appears astonishingly lifelike, attracting pilgrims who seek inspiration from his life and legacy. For many, the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore has become a place of pilgrimage, as it is also the site where the second miracle attributed to Acutis took place.
