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For the first time since the beatification that took place last Saturday, the Church celebrates on October 12 the liturgical memory of Carlo Acutis, who used the Internet to teach the world about the love of the Eucharist. Fortunato Ammendolia, computer scientist and expert in artificial intelligence: “He left us a great lesson: using the Internet in an ethical sense”
Federico Piana- Vatican City
Internet and the Eucharist. Apparently, this combination could be considered a bit risky but if we look at the figure of Carlo Acutis – beatified just two days ago and whose liturgical memory is celebrated for the first time today, October 12 – it turns out that it is not. Indeed, it can be said with certainty that from a very young age he learned the secrets of the Internet for himself to use it as a means to make God known and loved to the ends of the Earth. Proof of this is his virtual exhibition on Eucharistic miracles, designed and built when he was only 14 years old, which still attracts thousands of visitors from around the world today. Not only. Carlo also used the Internet to get closer to his classmates, helping them from a distance to overcome school difficulties, be they small or big. The Pope also highlighted it yesterday at the Angelus, speaking of a child who “did not rest in a comfortable immobility, but understood the needs of his time, because in the weakest he saw the face of Christ.”
Living the digital environment, a mission of love
“Carlo’s short earthly life – explains Lucky ammendolia, computer scientist, specialist in digital pastoral care and artificial intelligence at COP, the Center for Pastoral Orientation, has been transfigured by the word of God and the Eucharist. That is why he began to write on the Internet, with web pages, the message of faith, a message of his love for the Eucharist. He understood that it was necessary to inhabit the digital environment for a transfiguration of man, which is the objective of digital pastoral care ”. Carlo remained very close to Jesus even when he traveled the immense virtual roads: “And this – adds Fortunato Ammendolia – must have strongly and positively impressed his friends. No doubt”.
Strongly educational message
Blessed Acutis has delivered to an increasingly technological and connected world a message that can hardly be ignored. Fortunato Ammendolia tries to summarize it by arguing that “the orientation that we inherit is fundamentally educational to a Eucharistic spirituality that is embodied with an action marked by the Gospel. Carlo will surely have dreamed of eucharistic education projects that will take place between reality and digital. If I had had time, I’m sure I would have also taken advantage of virtual and augmented reality. ” Then Ammendolia adds a detail that makes us understand how much that adolescent, walking towards holiness, not only had his head turned towards heaven but also his feet firmly planted on the ground: “Carlos suffered when he saw the empty churches. Hence an educational bet on the Internet to repopulate the parishes, since he said: We have Jerusalem under our house ”.
A great legacy: the ethical use of the network
Carlo Acutis also leaves a legacy to all the world’s computer scientists and young digital natives. A true compass to follow scrupulously: “Pope Francis – explains Fortunato Ammendolia – presenting him as a model of holiness in the digital age, in the post-synodal encyclical Christus vivit, writes that Carlos knew very well that communication mechanisms and social networks they can be used to make us sleep. But he knew how to use them to transmit the beauty of the Gospel. Here, I like to read this phrase as an invitation to an ethical use of the Internet.
