The Roman Catholic Church has acquired the first saint of the millennials (the generation includes those born between 1980 and 1995). He is Carlo Acutis, an Italian teenager born in London who dedicated his short life to spreading the Catholic faith through the internet, according to the British network Sky News.
Pope Francis attributed a second miracle to Akutis, who died of leukemia in 2006 at the age of 15, the Guardian writes, noting that the Pontiff’s surprise decision to canonize the first millennial was greeted with very warm comments from the faithful.
The Italian teenager used his computer skills to spread the values of Catholicism.
📹VIDEO | The body of Blessed Carlo Acutis is exposed in Assisi, Italy, and even though authorities within the Catholic Church have said the body is not incorrupt, his almost intact appearance is astounding. Future Saint Carlo Acutis, pray for us! pic.twitter.com/97I0BTq97K
— EWTN Vatican (@EWTNVatican) May 23, 2024
Acutis was born in the British capital and grew up in Milan, where he took over his parish website. He then became involved in the online promotion of a Vatican-based academy.
Shortly after his first Communion at the age of seven, Carlo told his mother: “I want to always be united to Jesus: This is my life plan.” His mother had previously told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that, from the age of three, her son asked to visit churches and donated his allowance to poor people in the city.
The Pontiff took the decision to canonise Carlo Acoutis yesterday during a meeting with the head of the Vatican’s canonisation, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro.
It is noted that, in order for someone to be anointed a “saint” by the Catholic Church, at least five years must have passed since his death, an investigation must be completed to determine whether he lived a life of “sufficient holiness” and “heroic virtue” and at least two miracles must be attributed to him in a “verified” manner.
In 2020, Acutis was granted the first miracle. At the time, the Vatican ruled that he saved the life of another boy in Brazil from a rare disease. The second miracle was attributed to Akutis in 2022, when a 21-year-old girl from Costa Rica recovered from a serious injury after a bicycle accident in Florence.
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The attribution of a second miracle means he can now be elevated to sainthood, but the Vatican has not specified when that will happen.
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that only God performs miracles, but that saints who are believed to be with God in heaven act as “mediators” on behalf of people who pray to them.
