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VATICAN CITY (AFP) – A British-born Italian teenager who dedicated his short life to spreading the faith online and helping the poor was beatified by the Catholic Church on Saturday (October 10).
Internet and computer crazy young Carlo Acutis, who died of leukemia in 2006 at age 15, was set on the path to holiness after the Vatican ruled that he had miraculously saved the life of another child.
The beautification leaves him only a miracle away from becoming the world’s first millennial saint.
The Vatican claims it interceded from heaven in 2013 to heal a Brazilian boy who suffered from a rare pancreatic disease.
The beatification ceremony took place in Assisi, home of his idol Saint Francis, who dedicated his life to the poor.
“My whole family in Argentina was very excited and asked me to pray for them and also for Carlo. We are all very happy,” student Carla Fiezzi, who attended the ceremony, told AFP.
“Young people may be tired of a pastoral that perhaps a little outdated despite all their efforts, but the Lord intervenes in history and human affairs and gives us these guiding lights,” said the priest and spokesman for the Convent of Assisi, Enzo Fortunato. he said during the ceremony.
‘COMPUTER GENIUS’
Acutis, nicknamed “the cyber-apostle of the Eucharist,” was born in London to Italian parents and moved with them to Milan as a child.
“He was considered a computer genius … But what did he do? He did not use these media to chat, have fun,” said his mother Antonia Salzano in an interview with Vatican News.
Instead, “his zeal for the Lord” led him to create a website about miracles, he said.
The millennial, whose body lies in state in Assisi, dressed in a tracksuit and slippers, also warned his contemporaries that the internet could be a curse as well as a blessing.
Pope Francis referred to him last year, warning young people that social media could fuel hatred.
“(Acutis) saw that many young people, who want to be different, really end up being like everyone else, running after whatever the powerful put in front of them with the mechanisms of consumerism and distraction,” Francis said.
“As a result, Carlo said, ‘everyone is born original, but many people end up dying as photocopies.’ Don’t let that happen to you!” he said.
Kind to the poor
Acutis was religious from an early age, even though his mother said his family rarely attended church.
When he wasn’t writing computer programs or playing soccer, Acutis was known in his neighborhood for his kindness to those who lived on the fringes of society.
“With her savings, she bought sleeping bags for the homeless and brought them hot drinks at night,” her mother said this week, according to the Catholic News Agency.
“He said it was better to have one less pair of shoes if it meant being able to do a good job more,” he said.
He also volunteered at a soup kitchen in Milan. The bishop of Assisi, Domenico Sorrentino, said this month that a soup kitchen for the poor would be opened in honor of Acutis.
“When he died, at the funeral, the church was full of poor people. Everyone was wondering what they were doing there. Well, Carlo used to help them secretly,” said Nicola Gori, who represented the Acutis beatification case.
“The family knew it, because his mother accompanied him, since he was only 15 years old. She gave them sleeping bags and food, so they wanted to attend the funeral,” he added.
If Acutis is later credited with the second miracle necessary for sainthood, supporters have suggested that he could become the patron saint of the Internet, although there is already a 7th-century scholar, Isidore of Seville.
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