The Catholic Church is preparing to canonize Carlo Acutis, an Italian teenager who died in 2006 at age 15 from leukemia. Known as ‘God’s influencer’ for his ability to spread the Catholic faith through the internet, Acutis will become the first saint of the millennial generation, that is, those born between the early 1980s and late 1990s.
Recognition of the second miracle
Pope Francis, after receiving in audience the prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Marcello Semeraro, recognized a second miracle attributed to Acutis’s intercession. This step is fundamental for his canonization, which will be formalized in a consistory whose date has not yet been announced. In the same session, the canonizations of three other blesseds will also be addressed: the Italian priest Giuseppe Allamano, founder of the Missionaries of the Consolata; the Canadian nun Marie-Léonie Paradis; and the Italian religious Elena Guerra.
Life and legacy of Carlo Acutis
Carlo Acutis was born in London in 1991 and grew up in Milan, Italy. From a young age, he showed exceptional talent for computing, which he used to create a website documenting Eucharistic miracles around the world. His goal was to evangelize through new technologies, combining his faith with his passion for programming. He was a devout young man who attended daily Mass and dedicated himself to helping the needy. After his death, he was buried in the Basilica of Assisi, where his body remains exposed along with other relics.
Miracles attributed to his intercession
The first miracle recognized by the Vatican occurred in 2013, when a Brazilian boy with a congenital pancreatic defect recovered after his family prayed for Acutis’s intercession. This led to his beatification in 2020. The second miracle, recently approved, involves a young Costa Rican woman who suffered severe head trauma after falling off a bicycle. Her mother traveled to Assisi and prayed at Acutis’s tomb; the young woman recovered completely, without neurological sequelae. Both cases were thoroughly examined by the Holy See, which considered them medically inexplicable.
The canonization of Carlo Acutis represents a milestone for the Catholic Church, which recognizes holiness in a 21st-century young man, whose testimony of faith and use of technology for evangelization especially resonates with new generations.
Original source: www.adn40.mx (published May 24, 2024)
