Carlo Acutis, a British-born Italian teenager who used his skill with computers to promote Catholic devotion, was declared a saint on Sunday in a canonization ceremony presided over by Pope Leo XIV. Acutis, who died of acute leukemia in 2006 at age 15, has been widely embraced by young Catholics and others as a relatable model of faith in the digital era.
Born in London on May 3, 1991, to Italian parents Antonia Salzano and Andrea Acutis, Carlo was raised largely in Milan after his family returned to Italy. Family members and those who knew him describe a boy who combined ordinary pastimes—video games, soccer and hiking—with daily Mass attendance, early First Communion at age seven and a steady practice of Eucharistic adoration. He taught catechism at his parish and did outreach to the homeless while pursuing an intense interest in computer science.
Acutis built a widely viewed website cataloging more than 100 Eucharistic miracles recognized by the church, a project completed while he was still a teenager. That work, and his facility with the internet, earned him the popular nickname "God's Influencer." His public profile grew as the formal church investigation into his life, begun in Milan in 2013 after the required five-year waiting period, coincided with widespread grassroots and social media interest.
The Vatican declared Acutis "venerable" in 2018. He was beatified in 2020 after Vatican authorities said the recovery of a Brazilian child from a pancreatic malformation was scientifically inexplicable and attributed to Acutis' intercession. A second miracle credited to his intercession — the complete recovery of a Costa Rican student from severe head trauma sustained in a bicycle accident while in Italy — led the Vatican to recognize him as a saint.
Acutis was canonized alongside Pier Giorgio Frassati, an early 20th-century Italian from a prominent Turin family who also died young. Frassati, born in 1901 and dead from polio in 1925 at age 24, was known for his charitable work, opposition to Fascism and devotion to the poor. He was beatified in 1990 by St. John Paul II. The joint canonizations drew attention to different models of youthful Catholic engagement across a century.
Acutis is entombed in Assisi, the hilltop Umbrian town associated with St. Francis, and his glass-fronted tomb shows him dressed in jeans and sneakers. That ordinariness has reinforced his appeal to many contemporary Catholics, and the site has become a pilgrimage destination. Church officials have said his life offers a template for how technology can be used to promote faith.
Observers have noted that Acutis' path to sainthood reflected changing dynamics in modern canonizations. Traditionally, a long period of popular devotion would precede a formal inquiry; in Acutis' case, the official process and ensuing media attention helped build the popular veneration that accompanied his rise through the stages of canonization.
Pope Leo XIV, for whom the ceremony marked his first canonization, has cited the social teachings associated with earlier church figures as an inspiration for his own papacy. In remarks linked to the ceremony, Vatican officials and others referenced the resonance of both new and older models of sanctity for Catholics confronting technological and social change. Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc.; the AP is solely responsible for this content.