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In many ways, Carlo Acutis was a typical teenager. He loved his PlayStation and making videos of his dogs. He preferred Nike’s and jeans, and he had a cell phone and an email address.
But in one significant respect, Carlo, who was just 15 when he died of leukemia in 2006, stands out from his peers: He is on his way to becoming the first millennial to be recognized as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.
Carlo, who lived in Milan, was beatified or declared “blessed” by the Pope on Saturday after a miracle was attributed to him earlier this year. The ceremony, in Assisi, Italy, was the penultimate step before Carlo can be canonized as a saint.
Since his death, Carlo has become known in some Catholic circles as the patron saint of the Internet for his ease with computers and his early and enthusiastic adoption of the web, which he used as an expression of his Catholic faith.
When he was 9 years old, Carlo began studying computer science textbooks and taught himself computer programming and graphic design, his mother, Antonia Acutis, said in a telephone interview. In the months leading up to his death, he created a website cataloging miracles.
“Carlo was the light answer to the dark side of the web,” his mother said, adding that some fans have called him a “God influencer.”
Her son’s life, she said, “can be used to show how the Internet can be used for good, to spread good things.”
After his death, the Diocese of Assisi, where his family had a second home, requested the Vatican to recognize Carlo as a saint. The diocese searched their emails and computer search history and interviewed witnesses. Then they waited for miracles.
Ms. Acutis said that people around the world had told her about medical miracles, including cures for infertility and cancer, that happened after they prayed to her son. In February, Pope Francis credited Carlo with the inexplicable healing of a boy with a malformation of the pancreas after the boy came into contact with one of his shirts.
Now that he has been beatified, Carlo could become a saint if a second verified miracle is attributed to him and recognized by the Pope. A formal canonization ceremony would follow.
If that happens, Carlo would join an elite group. Among the more than 10,000 saints recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, only 120 died as children or adolescents, the National Catholic Registry reported in 2017.
The time between beatification and sainthood varies greatly, and sainthood may not happen at all, said Kathleen Sprows Cummings, professor of American studies and history and director of the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism at the University of Notre Dame. For some saints, including Joan of Arc, who died when she was about 19 years old, centuries pass between death and canonization.
Hundreds of masked devotees, including Carlo’s parents and siblings, gathered in Assisi on Saturday for his beatification ceremony, which was postponed from March due to the coronavirus. Many watched the screens spread across the city squares as a church official read a letter from Pope Francis declaring Carlo “blessed.”
“Already Carlo, he has just been beatified, but he is already a worldwide phenomenon,” said Father Will Conquer, a Catholic priest and missionary in Cambodia who has written about Carlo’s path to holiness. “What makes him so extraordinary is that he was ordinary. We’re telling people that the guy you should follow is a guy very similar to you. “
Carlo’s body, which was exhumed for veneration this month, was displayed in a nearby church in his favorite Nike wardrobe, jeans and a sweater.
Those signs of modernity resonated with many young people who see themselves in him, said Paul Jarzembowski, who heads youth and young adult ministries for the US Council of Catholic Bishops. Carlo was neither a theological writer nor a world leader. he said, but rather an ordinary young man with compassion, a drive to integrate faith into his daily life and “a dedication to making the world a better place.”
“He is truly a sponsor of our times of digital self-isolation and dependence, and of other young people who now join us all as we more fully enter this new normal,” Jarzembowski said.
Born in London to Italian parents, Carlo moved to Milan with his family as a child, his mother said. He enjoyed soccer and video games, including Pokémon and Mario Kart, limiting himself to one hour a week with those games, his mother said.
He was inquisitive about Catholicism from an early age, inspiring his mother, who was not a practicing Catholic at the time, to return to the faith. He attended mass every day since he was 7 years old, without missing a day, he said.
Carlo looked for ways to help the poor, the elderly, the disabled, and refugees. On the way to school, he would stop to chat with people about their problems, he said. He brought meals and sleeping bags to the homeless and knew many by name.
At Carlo’s funeral, the church was filled with people whose lives he had touched, he said.
“People are gravitating toward the idea of a young man becoming a saint at a time when young people are leaving the church and becoming disenchanted with the church,” said Professor Cummings.
And, as people worry about the corrosive effects of social media on young people, it is remarkable, he said, that the Church is recognizing a person who used the Internet to promote faith.
Francisco has embraced the Internet and called it a “gift from God.” Writing to young people last year, he praised Carlo as an example for his use of the internet, quoting him as saying, “Everyone is born original, but many people end up dying as photocopies.” The Pope added: “Don’t let that happen to you!”
Monday, the Papa wrote on Twitter that Carlo’s example showed that “true happiness is found by putting God first and serving him in our brothers and sisters, especially the little ones.”
Francis, known for embracing the internet, especially with Twitter and Instagram accounts – he has been frank about the damaging effects of social media and the depravity of internet culture.
Carlo’s beatification comes at a time when technology has been integrated into religion like never before, as online streaming allows the faithful to participate in services under coronavirus restrictions.
Carlo’s life has inspired hundreds of social media pages, as well as books and documentaries. YouTube videos show him as a kid sticking his tongue out at the camera and goofing around, playing air guitar and singing.
“There really is nothing extraordinary in his life,” said Father Conquer de Carlo. “Everything he did you can do, honestly. And that’s what gives us a lot of hope. “
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