After being named a “Servant of God” in 2013, Acutis reached the second rung on the ladder to sainthood when he was venerated by Pope Francis in 2018. His body was exhumed and taken to a tomb in Assisi, where it still lies today, dressed in his characteristic teenage outfit from the 90s. “It is beautiful that for the first time in history you can see a saint dressed in jeans, sneakers and a sweatshirt. It is a great message,” Father Carlos Acácio Gonçalves Ferreira, rector of the sanctuary, said at the time. A Franciscan monk who was at the tomb noted that “many young people” were visiting.
Next, Acutis and his followers needed a literal miracle, one that he himself had performed. “It has to be something that cannot be explained scientifically, so proving it is difficult. For example, this might require doctors to confirm that they cannot explain how the healing occurred,” says Hutchings. In 2013 a woman in Brazil reclaimed that praying to Acutis had helped cure her son’s pancreatic defect. In 2020, Pope Francis authenticated the miracle and Acutis was beatified, culminating in a ceremony celebrating his virtuous life. “According to Google Trends, more people were looking for information about Carlo Acutis than about the Pope,” says Mares.
Then, in May 2024, a second miracle was recognized, involving the healing of a 21-year-old Costa Rican girl injured in a bicycle accident. In 2022, his mother knelt at Acutis’ grave and prayed for help. Then her daughter miraculously resumed breathing without assistance and made a full recovery. The Pope approved the canonization of Acutis in July—with an official ceremony planned for 2025.
It is rare for a saint to be so young and unheard of and yet achieve this elevated status so soon after his death. “It is notable that Carlo Acutis is canonized so close to the date of his birth. For context, of the 912 saints canonized by Pope Francis, the next most recent date of birth was 1926,” says Mares. This makes him the first millennial saint and, as some Catholics have put it, “God’s influencer” and the “patron saint of the Internet.”
Meanwhile, the cult of Carlos Acutis continues to spread throughout the world. The relics, including a piece of the sheet covering his body, a fragment of one of his sweatshirts and his actual heart, have toured internationally and recently arrived in the UK for the New Dawn Catholic pilgrimage. Carlo Acutis figurines, rosaries, posters and commemorative keychains can be purchased online. In North Lanarkshire, Scotland, a life-size statue of Acutis has been erected in Carfin Grotto, and there is a stained glass window in Wiltshire to attract young parishioners.
There’s even a comic telling his story and a virtual reality experience that gives players the chance to step into Acutis’ shoes. And, for Catholics who cannot pay their respects in person, his grave can be visited (and donated) virtually through a always-on live streaming.
The Church does not elect saints (campaigns begin with the Catholic community), but Acutis’s popularity fits with his desire to have a young role model. It also highlights the adoption of technology by the Church. “The Pope has been giving an annual conference on communications technology for 58 years,” says Hutchings. “It makes absolutely sense for Catholics to look for an Internet saint who represents the pious and faithful use of technology.”
Of course, there is still a stigma surrounding the Internet’s potential for blasphemous behavior. “The Pope has warned that today’s digital age constantly tempts young people to ‘self-absorption, isolation and empty pleasure,’” Mares says. And some devout Catholics still struggle with temptation. “With technology changing at such a rapid pace today, many Christians are still struggling to find the best way to live out their faith in the world of laptops, cell phones and social media,” says Mares.
But the Pope also called the Internet a “gift from God” in 2014, and recognizes its potential to spread the word of Christ; It just depends on how it is applied. And in the case of Acutis, the technology was used godly. “Acutis used the new technology exactly the way the Church wants it to be used: to promote commitment to Catholic teaching, virtuous living, and devotion to local church rituals,” Hutchings explains. The Church will hope that the relatable “sneaker saint” who watched cartoons and surfed the web will resonate with a community searching for an idol.
This article first appeared in the November/December 2024 issue of UK WIRED magazine.