A teenager born in London has become the first person of the millennial generation to be declared a saint by the Catholic Church.
Carlo Acutis makes history
Carlo Acutis, who died of leukaemia at the age of 15, was canonised in Rome on Sunday in a ceremony led by Pope Leo.
According to the BBC, Acutis earned the nickname “God’s influencer” because of his love of technology and his efforts to create websites documenting Catholic miracles.
His canonisation had originally been scheduled for April but was postponed following the death of Pope Francis.
Who was Carlo Acutis?
Carlo Acutis was born in London in 1991 but moved back to Italy with his parents before he was six months old.
He grew up in Milan, where he was known for his passion for computers and video games.
Friends described him as an ordinary teenager who enjoyed wearing jeans, playing Super Mario, and using technology.
Despite not being seen as especially devout in his early years, he later built a website to share information about Catholic miracles.
These pages are still displayed today in the Chelsea church where he was baptised.
Carlo’s life was cut short in 2006 when he died from leukaemia. His family, particularly his mother Antonia Salzano, began advocating for him to be recognised as a saint soon after his death.
Why is he now a saint?
For someone to become a saint in the Catholic Church, evidence of at least two miracles linked to that person must be confirmed.
Carlo Acutis was credited with two miracles: one involving a woman with breast cancer who claimed her illness disappeared after praying to him, and another confirmed by the Vatican.
Pope Francis had previously praised Acutis for showing that young people could use modern tools like the internet to spread faith. This recognition helped accelerate his path to sainthood, a process that usually takes decades or centuries.
The Catholic Church hopes Carlo Acutis’ story will inspire young people to see faith as accessible in their everyday lives.
Diego Sarkissian, a Catholic from London who attended the canonisation, said Carlo’s ordinary lifestyle made him feel connected:
“The fact that you can think of a saint doing the same things as you, wearing jeans, it feels so much closer than what other saints have felt like in the past.”
For the Church, his canonisation represents a new way of engaging younger generations by showing that sainthood is not limited to distant historical figures but can also include modern individuals with relatable lives.
Where is Carlo Acutis honoured?
Carlo’s body rests in Assisi, Italy, where more than a million pilgrims have travelled to visit.
In London, his baptismal church, Our Lady of Dolours in Chelsea, has also become a place of pilgrimage.
A strand of his hair is preserved there as a relic in a small shrine.
