Pope clears the way for London-born teenager to become first millennial saint
23 May 2024, 20:58 | Updated: 23 May 2024, 23:10
A London-born teenager who died of leukaemia is set to become the church’s first millennial saint.
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Carlo Acutis died in 2006 after his work spreading the teachings of the Catholic church online led to him being known as “God’s influencer’.
Pope Francis attributed a second posthumous miracle to Carlos that involved the healing of a university student in Florence who had bleeding on the brain.
This qualifies Carlo for canonisation after he had been beatified - the first step towards sainthood - in 2020.
This was when he was attributed with his first miracle for healing a Brazilian child of a congenital disease affecting his pancreas.
The second miracle was approved by the Pope following a meeting with the Vatican's saint-making department.
There is no set date of when Carlo will be canonised.
The teenager died in Monza, in Italy having spent much of his childhood in the country after being born and baptised in London in 1991.
Carlo told his parents that he would give them many signs of his presence after death, reportedly telling them: “I’m happy to die because I’ve lived my life without wasting even a minute of it doing things that wouldn’t have pleased God.”
Carlo’s nickname, God's influencer, has been attributed to him after his death due to this work.
He designed websites for his school and parish and became known for launching a website looking to document every Eucharistic miracle, which launched days before he died.
After the Catholic church first shared it was considering Carlo, his mother told The Times: “Sometimes these beautiful [saints] are all very old and used to live in a very different world so young people don’t feel so close to them.
“Carlo was young and handsome and always smiling and was a computer genius and would play on his PlayStation and Game Boy.
“To have a saint that played with the same things as you do is something that really touches these young people.”
Carlo has also been paid tribute to in the UK where the Archbishop of Birmingham established the Parish of Blessed Carlo Acutis in 2020.
Something is considered a miracle if it involves an act that is seen to be beyond what is possible in nature and a person becomes eligible for sainthood if they have two in their name.
