‘God’s influencer’ Carlo Acutis to become first millennial saint

An Italian teenager called “God’s Influencer” is to go the archetypal millennial Catholic saint astatine a ceremonial led by Pope Leo XIV astatine the Vatican.

Tens of thousands of worshippers are expected to be Sunday’s canonisation successful St Peter’s Square of Carlo Acutis, who died of leukaemia successful 2006 astatine the property of 15.

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Born successful London, England, successful 1991 to Italian parents, Carlo grew up successful the bluish Italian metropolis of Milan, wherever helium taught himself basal coding and utilized his computing talents to papers miracles and different elements of the Catholic religion online.

The communicative of the cyber-apostle, who is said to person attended Mass regular and shown kindness to bullied children and stateless people, attracted Catholic younker worldwide, and it volition present spot him elevated to the aforesaid level arsenic Francis of Assisi.

Dressed successful jeans and a brace of Nike trainers, the teenager’s assemblage lies successful a glass-walled tomb successful Assisi, a medieval metropolis and pilgrimage tract successful the cardinal portion of Umbria, and is visited by hundreds of thousands of radical each year.

Believers commune successful beforehand of the tomb of Carlo Acutis successful the Shrine of the Renunciation, portion of the Church of Saint Mary Major, successful Assisi connected April 3, 2025 [Tiziana Fabi/AFP]

The Vatican said Carlo has performed 2 miracles since his death, the archetypal involving the healing of a Brazilian kid suffering from a pancreatic malformation, the 2nd involving the betterment of a Costa Rican pupil injured successful an accident. Relatives of some prayed for assistance from the teenager.

Carlo’s mother, Antonia Salzano, was cited by the AFP quality bureau arsenic saying her lad was possessed with the acquisition of seeing that “each idiosyncratic is unsocial and unrepeatable, originals and not photocopies”.

Sunday’s ceremony, initially acceptable for April but postponed erstwhile Pope Francis died, volition beryllium a archetypal for Leo, who volition besides canonise Pier Giorgio Frassati, a young Italian antheral who was known for helping those successful request and died of polio successful the 1920s.

It was Francis who had pushed the lawsuit for Carlo’s sainthood forward, convinced that the religion needed idiosyncratic similar him to pull young Catholics to the religion portion addressing the promises and perils of the integer age.

“Carlo was good alert that the full apparatus of communications, advertizing and societal networking tin beryllium utilized to lull us, to marque america addicted to consumerism and buying the latest happening connected the market,” Francis wrote successful a 2019 document.

“Yet helium knew however to usage the caller communications exertion to transmit the Gospel, to pass values and beauty.”

Pope Leo XIV waves to the faithful, immoderate holding pictures of Carlo Acutis arsenic helium arrives successful St Peter’s Square astatine the Vatican for an open-air Jubilee assemblage [Andrew Medichini/AP Photo]

Leo inherited the origin and has besides pointed to technology, successful peculiar artificial intelligence, arsenic 1 of the main challenges facing humanity.

Carlo’s astir well-known tech bequest is the website helium created astir alleged Eucharistic miracles, disposable successful astir 20 languages.

The tract compiles accusation astir the 196 seemingly inexplicable events implicit the past of the Catholic Church related to the Eucharist, which the faithful judge is the assemblage of Christ.