With Pope Francis recognising a second miracle attributed to him, 16-year-old Italian teenager Carlo Acutis will become the first millennial saint. The 16-year-old boy used his computer skills to spread the Catholic faith before he died of leukaemia in 2006, aged 15.
Acutis, informally known as "God's influencer", was born in London but grew up in Milan where he took care of his parish website and later of a Vatican-based academy. The teenager was beatified in 2020 after one miracle was attributed to him, and the attribution of a second miracle means he can now be elevated to sainthood, possibly during the Catholic Church's 2025 Jubilee Year.
Acutis, who reportedly showed signs of intense religious devotion during childhood, taught himself to code when he was still in elementary school. He then used this knowledge to build websites for Catholic organisations spreading the word of God.
Acutis was also named as a patron of last year’s World Youth Day in Lisbon, owing to the key role he played in evangelisation through the internet.
Pope Francis beatified Acutis in 2020 after he had performed his first miracle. A seven-year-old boy from Brazil who had been suffering from pancreatic malfunction had been cured of his ailment after coming in contact with Acutis' shirt. This was later verified by Pope Francis who confirmed the event as a miracle.
The second miracle happened when a woman from Costa Rica with a daughter, who was fighting for her life after a bicycle accident, prayed at Carlo’s tomb at the Sanctuary of the Renunciation. The daughter, Valeria, who had been struggling for her life, started to show improvements soon after her mother began praying to Acutis.
In a meeting held at the Vatican on Thursday with the head of the Vatican’s saint-making department, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, the Pope verified the second miracle hence paving the way towards Acutis attaining sainthood and becoming the 'first millennial saint'.