Carlo Acutis, an Italian teenager who passed away at 15 from leukemia in 2006, is set to become the first “millennial” saint, the Holy See announced on May 23.
Despite his parents not being traditionally fully devoted Catholics, Acutis insisted on regularly attending daily Mass. As an expression of his faith, he created a website that documents Eucharistic miracles around the world. This website is currently available in around 20 languages.
“To always be close to Jesus, that’s my life plan,” he once said when he was just 7 years old.
In 2020, the Vatican beatified Acutis after acknowledging a miracle attributed to his intercession: the healing of a Brazilian boy with a rare pancreatic disease in 2013.
More recently, Pope Francis approved a second miracle linked to Acutis: the recovery of Valeria Valverde, a Costa Rican student who sustained a severe head injury in 2022 after accidentally falling from her bike. This latest approval clears the way for Acutis’s canonization.
The 15-year-old, who loved playing online games and even watched Pokémon, is beloved for his spirituality and his innovative use of technology to spread the message of Christianity. He was also dubbed “God’s influencer.”
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