A relic of Carlo Acutis, who was declared the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint last week, was stolen from a parish in western Venezuela, the coordinator of a youth group devoted to the new saint said Friday.
The disappearance was reported Sept. 9 by staff at the Santo Domingo de Guzmán parish in Cardenal Quintero municipality in Mérida state, Adrián García, coordinator of the San Carlo Acutis Youth Group, told The Associated Press. "So far, there's no information; it's still missing," García said. "We have faith in God that it will appear. It has great spiritual value."
Parish officials said the relic was a small, circular piece of cloth kept in a glass reliquary. It is considered a third-degree relic, a classification typically applied to objects that have been touched to a saint. The disappearance came two days after Pope Leo XIV canonized Acutis on Sept. 7 during an open-air Mass in St. Peter’s Square before an estimated 80,000 people.
Police in Mérida state are investigating the disappearance, the parish said. The Catholic Church has previously criticized the online sale of Carlo Acutis’ relics, and church officials in other countries have cautioned against the illicit trade in devotional items.
Acutis, who died of leukemia in 2006 at age 15, was known for using technology to document and promote accounts of Eucharistic miracles, earning him the nickname "God’s Influencer." Born May 3, 1991, in London to an Italian family that later returned to Milan, he was named venerable in 2018 and beatified in 2020 after the Vatican’s sainthood office declared a 2013 recovery of a Brazilian child from a pancreatic deformation to be "scientifically inexplicable" and attributable to Acutis’ intercession.
Relics of newly canonized saints are often distributed to churches and shrines around the world, and the San Carlo Acutis Youth Group had requested the relic when Acutis was declared blessed, officials said. The group has focused on promoting Acutis’ legacy among young Catholics and on the use of digital tools in evangelization.
The theft adds to concerns among clergy and faithful about the security and protection of sacred objects. Church leaders and local authorities did not immediately provide further details about potential suspects or motives. Parish officials said they were cooperating with investigators and appealed to the community for any information that could help recover the relic.
If recovered, the cloth would remain an object of devotion for members of the parish and the San Carlo Acutis Youth Group, who have organized events and pilgrimages centered on the new saint. For now, García and others in Mérida said they were awaiting word from authorities while continuing their religious activities and outreach.
The investigation remains active, and the parish has asked anyone with information to contact local police. Church officials did not immediately comment further on the incident or on how the relic came to be sent to the Venezuelan parish.