Computer Wizard to Become the First Millennial Generation Saint

A London-born teenager – whose proficiency at spreading the teachings of the Catholic church online led to him being called “God’s influencer” – is set to become the First Millennial Generation Saint .

Carlo Acutis died in 2006, at the age of 15, meaning he would be the first millennial – a person born in the early 1980s to late 1990s – to be canonised.

It follows Pope Francis attributing a second miracle to him.

Carlo Acutis had been beatified – the first step towards sainthood – in 2020, after he was attributed with his first miracle – 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.

It is not yet known when he will be canonised.

Carlo Acutis died in Monza, in Italy, after being diagnosed with leukaemia, having spent much of his childhood in the country.

His body was moved to Assisi a year after his death, and it currently resides on full display alongside other relics linked to him.

As well as designing websites for his parish and school, he became known for launching a website seeking to document every reported Eucharistic miracle, which was launched days before his death.

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Mr Acutis’ nickname, God’s influencer, has been attributed to him after his death due to this work.

His website has now been translated into several different languages, and used as the basis for an exhibition which has travelled around the world.

His life is also remembered in the UK, where in 2020, the Archbishop of Birmingham established the Parish of Blessed Carlo Acutis incorporating churches in Wolverhampton and Wombourne.

And there is a statue of the soon-to-be-saint in Carfin Grotto, a Roman Catholic shrine in Motherwell.

Miracles are typically investigated and assessed over a period of several months, with a person being eligible for sainthood after they have two to their name.

For something to be deemed a miracle, it typically requires an act seen to be beyond what is possible in nature – such as through the sudden healing of a person deemed to be near-death.

The most recent person to be canonised was Maria Antonia de Paz y Figueroa, also known as Mama Antula, an 18th Century religious sister who became Argentina’s first female saint.

Pope Francis paved the way for the canonization of the first saint of the millennial generation on Thursday, attributing a second miracle to a 15-year-old Italian computer whiz who died of leukemia in 2006.

Carlo Acutis, born on May 3, 1991, in London and then moved with his Italian parents to Milan as a child, was the youngest contemporary person to be beatified by Francis in Assisi in 2020.

The approval of a second miracle for Acutis was notified by the Pontiff on Thursday during a meeting with the head of the Vatican’s saint-making department, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, a Vatican statement said.

Pope Francis announced he will convene a Consistory of Cardinals to deliberate the canonization of Acutis, as well as other three Blessed.

Touted as the “patron saint of the internet,” Acutis used his natural tech talent to create a website to catalog miracles and took care of websites for some local Catholic organizations.

He was a self-starter. While still in elementary school, Acutis taught himself to code using a university computer science textbook, and then learned how to edit videos and create animation.

Acutis, who died of acute leukemia on Oct. 12, 2006, was put on the road to sainthood after Pope Francis approved the first miracle attributed to him: The healing of a 7-year-old Brazilian boy from a rare pancreatic disorder after coming into contact with an Acutis’ relic, a piece of one of his T-shirts.

According to Vatican News, the second miracle recognized on Thursday is related to a woman from Costa Rica, who in July 2022 made a pilgrimage to Acutis’ tomb in Assisi to pray for the healing of her daughter, who had suffered severe head trauma after falling from her bicycle.

The young woman started showing signs of recovery immediately after her mother’s plea.

Already as a small child, Acutis had showed a strong religious devotion that surprised his non-practicing parents.

His mother, Antonia Salzano, recalled in an interview that from age 3 he would ask to visit churches they passed in Milan, and by age 7 had asked to receive the sacrament of Holy Communion, winning an exception to the customary age requirement.

His curiosity pushed Salzano to study theology in order to answer his questions, renewing her own faith.

Acutis was buried in Assisi at his own request, having become an admirer of St. Francis of Assisi for his dedication to the poor.

The Umbrian town was one of his favorite travel destinations. His body, clad in a tracksuit and sneakers, has been on display for veneration in a sanctuary in the town, and his heart has been displayed in a reliquary in the St. Francis Basilica.

Carlo Acutis, Computer Wizard Set to Become the First Saint of the Millennial Generationwas beatified by the Catholic Church in 2020.