This week, Pope Francis made a historic move by attributing a second miracle to a millennial.
Carlo Acutis, who died of cancer in 2006 at age 15, was an Italian teenager who used the internet to share his faith in God.
Now, “God’s influencer,” as he’s commonly called, is on the road to canonization, according to Vatican News.
Who was Carlo Acutis?
Born in 1991, Acutis exhibited tremendous religious devotion at a young age, despite his non-practicing parents. He would ask his parents if he could visit the churches they passed, according to the Corriere della Sera newspaper, which was cited in an article by Al Jazeera.
“There was in him a natural predisposition for the sacred,” his mother told Corriere della Sera.
Acutis later started a website devoted to his Catholic faith. He documented miracles worldwide and used the internet to evangelize.
He also helped religious organizations expand their online presence, according to Reuters.
“Born in London, he grew up in Milan where he took care of his parish website and later of a Vatican-based academy,” the article said.
Acutis grew sick with leukemia and died at age 15.
His last words were reportedly, “I die happy because I didn’t spend any minutes of my life in things God doesn’t love,” according to The Daily Mail.
Since his death, the pope has recognized two miraculous healings that were attributed to him.
“The second miracle, announced Thursday, reportedly involved a woman from Costa Rica who in 2022 prayed at Acutis’s tomb in Assisi, Italy, after her daughter fell from her bicycle, suffering severe head trauma that doctors said she was not likely to survive,” The Washington Post reported, noting that the girl’s hemorrhage then disappeared.
“In 2020, the church recognized his first miracle, involving a Brazilian boy who was allegedly healed from a pancreatic birth defect after his mother prayed to Acutis,” the article said.
The first millennial saint
According to Catholic tradition, saints are people who “are worthy of imitation,” including people who demonstrated heroism, virtue or sacrifice.
There are three steps in the sainthood process. First, the pope recognizes a deceased person as worthy; second, a miracle must be attributed to the deceased person (this step is called beatification); third, a second miracle must be attributed to the deceased person, per The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
“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,” Reuters reported.
While he’s not the youngest person who’s ever been up for canonization, Acutis is the first person from the millennial generation to make it to this stage of the sainthood process.
“In the decree released on Thursday, Pope Francis announced he will convene a Consistory of Cardinals to deliberate the canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis, as well as Blessed Giuseppe Allamano, Marie-Léonie Paradis, and Elena Guerra,” Vatican News reported.