“God’s influencer” ready to become the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint

Carlo Acutis, a 15-year-old programmer who died of leukemia in 2006, is expected to be the first holy millenniumaccording to a new report from Catholic News Agency THURSDAY. Acutis created websites documenting alleged miracles and has been called “God’s influencer” since his death.

Anyone who wants to become a saint in the Catholic Church must be recognized as having performed at least two miracles, even if those miracles occurred after the saint’s death. Pope Francis recognized Acutis’ second miracle on Thursday, according to the Catholic News Agency.

The miracle involved a 21-year-old girl from Costa Rica, Valeria Valverde, who was studying in Italy, where Acutis lived. Valverde suffered a head injury in 2022 following a bicycle accident and had to undergo surgery, but his mother went to pray at the grave of Carlo Acutis, where his the body is publicly displayed.

Of Catholic News Agency:

Six days after the accident, Valeria’s mother went on a pilgrimage to Assisi to pray for her daughter’s healing at the tomb of Blessed Carlo Acutis, leaving a written note.

On the same day, Valeria began to breathe on her own, and the next day she regained the use of her upper limbs and partially regained speech.

Valeria was discharged from the intensive care unit 10 days after her mother’s pilgrimage and underwent further examinations which showed that the hemorrhagic contusion of the right temporal cortex in her brain had completely disappeared.

Contrary to medical predictions, Valeria spent only a week in physiotherapy and on September 2, 2022, two months after her accident, she went on a pilgrimage to the tomb of Carlo Acutis in Assisi with her mother to celebrate her complete recovery.

The first miracle attributed to Acutis occurred in 2013 and was recognized by the Pope in 2020. This miracle involved a Brazilian boy who was reportedly cured of a rare pancreatic disease.

Acutis, born in 1991, created an online exhibition on Eucharistic miracles which was posted online shortly before his death in 2006. The Eucharist is the practice of Holy Communion, consuming bread or wafers and wine, which Catholics believe becomes the literal body and blood of Jesus Christ in a process called transubstantiation. This practice commemorates the Last Supper when Jesus ate with his disciples the day before his betrayal and crucifixion.

The EWTN Global Catholic Network has a video on YouTube about Acutis and his faith.

Acutis will not be the first saint of the Catholic Church linked to technology. Pope John Paul II declared Isidore of Seville the patron saint of the internet in 1997. Saint Isidore, who died in 676, attempted to record all human knowledge in a vast encyclopedia that was not published until after his death, making him a natural choice for associations with the web.

It is unclear when Acutis will officially become a saint, but the pope’s recognition of a second miracle is one of the final steps needed to complete the process. The last Catholic canonized was Maria Antonia de Paz and Figueroa18th century Argentinian nun, who became a saint in 2016.