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It looks like the Internet is about to get its patron saint soon in the person of 15-year-old Italian Carlo Acutis.
The Vatican recently credited this computer genius teenager with the healing of a Brazilian boy suffering from a rare illness. The boy reportedly asked God, through the intercession of Acutis, to grant him his healing.
Attributing miracles to him, and his subsequent beatification, are the next steps towards his sainthood. He will be beatified in Assisi, Italy in October this year after it was originally delayed because of the pandemic.
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Once he is beatified, he may soon become the patron saint of the Internet—even the first millennial to join the Catholic Church’s roster of saints.
Acutis, who was born in London but grew up in Italy, is recognized for building a website that documents and catalogs Eucharistic miracles around the world after he taught himself how to program using their family’s old computer. He was also known for defending the rights of the disabled and helping the homeless.
He started the website in 2005 after he learned that he contracted leukemia, and he is said to have quipped, “I offer all the suffering I will have to suffer for the Lord, for the Pope, and the Church.”
Acutis has been cataloging miracles since he was eleven years old, and it was on his website when he said, “The more Eucharist we receive, the more we will become like Jesus, so that on this earth we will have a foretaste of heaven.”
He died on October 12, 2006 from his illness and was buried in Assisi, Italy.
His imminent canonization is seen as an important milestone for the Vatican, signifying that there is a place for technology in the growth of Catholic faith for the next generation of Catholics.
Pope Francis is known for advocating technology—he regularly livestreams his Mass, and the Vatican even recently launched a wearable smart device that guides you through praying the rosary.
/VT
