Pope clears sainthood for Italian millennial known as ‘God’s influencer’

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis has attributed a second miracle to an Italian teenager who, in his short life, used his computer skills to spread the Catholic faith, clearing the way for him to become the first saint of the millennial generation.

Carlo Acutis, who died of leukaemia in 2006 aged 15, was informally known as “God’s influencer”. Born in London, he grew up in Milan, where he took care of his parish website and later of a Vatican-based academy.

“He was considered a computer genius... But what did he do? He didn’t use these media to chat, have fun,” his mother, Ms Antonia Salzano, said in an interview with Vatican News.

Instead, “his zeal for the Lord” drove him to make a website on miracles, she said.

Acutis also warned fellow millennials that the internet could be a curse as well as a blessing.

He was religious from a young age, despite his mother saying his family rarely attended church.

When he was not writing computer programmes or playing football, Acutis was known in his neighbourhood for his kindness to those living on society’s margins.

“With his savings, he bought sleeping bags for homeless people and, in the evening, he brought them hot drinks,” his mother said this week, according to the Catholic News Agency.

“He said it was better to have one less pair of shoes if it meant being able to do one more good work,” she said.

He also volunteered at a soup kitchen in Milan.

“When he died, at the funeral, the church was full of poor people. Everyone else wondered what they were doing there. Well, Carlo used to help them in secret,” said Mr Nicola Gori, who represented Acutis’ beatification case.

“The family knew about it because his mum would go with him since he was only 15 years old. He would give them sleeping bags and food, which is why they wanted to attend the funeral,” he added.

Due to his “important role in evangelisation through the internet”, Acutis was named as a patron of the 2023 World Youth Day in Lisbon, organisers of the event said.

Pope Francis referred to him that year in a warning to youngsters that social networks could foment hate.

“(Acutis) saw that many young people, wanting to be different, really end up being like everyone else, running after whatever the powerful set before them with the mechanisms of consumerism and distraction,” the Pope said.

“As a result, Carlo said: ‘Everyone is born as an original, but many people end up dying as photocopies.’ Don’t let that happen to you,” he said.

Pope Francis took the decision to attribute a second miracle to Acutis during a meeting with the head of the Vatican’s saint-making department, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, a statement said on May 23.

Acutis was beatified in 2020 after one miracle was attributed to him. The attribution of a second miracle means he can now be elevated to sainthood, but the Vatican did not say when this would happen.

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that only God performs miracles, but that saints who are believed to be with God in heaven intercede on behalf of people who pray to them. A miracle is usually the medically inexplicable healing of a person.

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