A fifteen-year-old boy born in London who died of leukemia will be canonized next year.
Pope Francis confirmed that Carlo Acutis, known as “God’s influencer,” will be named a saint at an official ceremony in April, during the Jubilee of the Adolescents of the Catholic Church in Rome.
The ‘techie’ teenager – born in 1991 to an Italian mother and a half-Italian, half-English father – will be canonized alongside activist Piero Giorgio Frassati.
The Pope said: ‘I want to say that next year, on the Day of Adolescents, I will canonize Blessed Carlo Acutis, and on the Day of Youth, next year, I will canonize Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. ‘
Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino of Assisi, where Acutis is buried, confirmed the news and said Acutis will be canonized at a special Mass celebrated by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square on April 27, 2025.
Acutis spent most of his life in Milan and his family visited Assisi every year around Easter because it was his favorite place and the place where he asked to be buried.
He spent much of his spare time designing an online exhibition about Eucharistic miracles around the world.
Because of his skills with computers, he has been called a ‘saint of the ordinary’, and possibly also a patron saint of IT workers.
He died in 2006 from an aggressive form of leukemia and would be 33 if he were still alive. Acutis will be the Catholic Church’s first millennial to be canonized.
Carlo Acutis (pictured) limited himself to one hour of video games a day so he could spend more time on his religion
Acutis, who died of leukemia in 2006 at age 15 and was informally known as “God’s influencer,” is about to become a saint
He would be only the second Briton to be canonized in almost fifty years
In 2020, the Pope recognized the recovery of a young boy in Brazil from a rare form of pancreatic cancer attributed to Acutis.
Shortly afterwards he was beatified, which is the first step towards canonization.
Earlier this year, the Pope recognized a second miracle: the healing of a student in Florence who had a brain hemorrhage.
Pope Francis called him a role model for young people who are often tempted by “self-absorption, isolation and empty pleasure.”
The Pope said: ‘Carlo was well aware that the whole apparatus of communications, advertising and social networks can be used to lull us to sleep, to make us addicted to consumerism and to buy the latest on the market, obsessed with our free time, caught in negativity’ Crux reported.
His mother Antonia Salzano previously said she now calls her late son her “savior” as he continued to teach her more about his faith and credits him with her conversion to Christianity.
He grew up in Milan, where he managed his parish’s website and later that of a Vatican-based academy.
Acutis’s parents, Antonia (front) and Andrea (back) are greeted by Cardinal Agostino Vallini during the beatification ceremony in Assisi, central Italy, in October 2020
An image of 15-year-old Carlo Acutis is seen during his beatification ceremony celebrated by Cardinal Agostino Vallini at St. Francis Basilica in Assisi, Italy, in October 2020
Carlo (pictured) grew up in Milan, where he took care of his parish’s website and later a Vatican-based academy
Carlo is depicted as a young boy waving at the camera while enjoying a holiday in the snow
Acutis (pictured) was a devout Christian when he was alive and attended daily mass
From the age of three, he donated his pocket money to the poor and later at school he supported victims of bullying and spent his evenings cooking and delivering meals to the homeless.
He told his parents in his last words, “I die happy because I have not spent a single minute of my life doing things that God does not like.”
Even after his death, the youngster, informally known as “God’s Influencer,” performed miracles, allegedly healing a seriously ill child and a brain hemorrhage victim in 2012 and 2022.
He was raised by first an Irish nanny and then a Polish one. They claim that he was inspired in part by Saint Francis of Assisi, who was born in the same city where Carlo was buried.
About her late son, Mrs. Salzano told the Times: “Sometimes these beautiful (saints) are all very old and they lived in a completely different world, so young people don’t feel so close to them.
‘Carlo was young and handsome and always smiling, a computer genius and played on his PlayStation and Game Boy.
“To have a saint who plays with the same things as you do is something that really touches these young people.”
Ms Salzano said Carlo had a “special relationship” with God from an early age, even though her family was not religious.
He was raised by first an Irish nanny and then a Polish one. They claim he was inspired in part by Saint Francis of Assisi, who was born in the same city where he was laid to rest
He also helped the homeless and stood up for bullied classmates at school. Pictured: young Acutis with his dog at Christmas
His mother Antonia Salzano (photo) calls her deceased son her ‘savior’
She told Shalom Tidings that she had only been to Mass three times before Carlo started dragging her to church at the age of three and a half.
Around the same time, he began asking questions about his faith and engaging in practices she had never heard of, including honoring existing saints, leaving flowers at shrines and spending hours in church.
The youngster even limited himself to one hour of video games a day so that he could devote more time to his religion. “Every minute wasted is one less minute to glorify God,” his mother said.
Since his death he has gained a worldwide following and his body was moved to the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, Assisi, where it is currently on display.
In Britain he is commemorated by the Archbishop of Birmingham, who established the parish of Blessed Carlo Acutis in 2020 with churches in Wolverhampton and Wombourne.