An Italian teenager will become the first Catholic saint of the millennial generation on Sunday. Who was Carlo Acutis, the “influence of God”
Carlo Acutis was drunk in 2020. Photo: Gregorio Borgia / AP / Profimedia
An Italian boy born in the UK, who died of leukemia in 2006, will become the first Catholic saint of the millennials on Sunday, in a ceremony that will be led by Pope Leon XIV in Saint Peter Square in the Vatican, which could attract tens of thousands of believers, writes Reuters on Thursday.
Carlo Acutis, who died at the age of 15, has learned programming to create sites in order to promote faith. His story has attracted the attention of young Catholics, and on Sunday he will be raised to the same status as Mother Tereza and Francis de Assisi, writes Agerpres.
The Sunday ceremony was initially scheduled for April, but was postponed after Pope Francis's death. Pope Leon XIV, chosen in May to replace Francis, will preside in such an event for the first time.
The current Sovereign Pontiff will also canonize Pier Giorgio Frassati, an Italian young man for the help given to the needy, who died of poliomyelitis in the 1920s.
Who was Carlo Acutis
Carlo Acutis's mother, Antonia Salzano, told Reuters, earlier this year, that the reason her son was so popular among young Catholics was that he led the same life as the other teenagers in the 2000s.
“Carlo was an ordinary child, like the others. He was playing, he had friends and he went to school. But his extraordinary quality was that he opened his heart to Jesus and that he put Jesus in his life,” she revealed.
“He was used by his skills to spread the good news, the gospel. He wanted to help people have more faith, to understand that there is a life afterwards, that we are pilgrims in this world,” added Antonia Salzano.
How a millennial passionate about the Internet became drunk by the Catholic Church. A discussion with the priest Francis Doboș about the “influence of God”
To be declared a holy means that the Catholic Church believes that a person has led a holy life and is now in Heaven, along with God.
Among other young people declared saints after they died at an early age are Tereza de Lisieux, who died at 24 in 1897 and was known to promote the 'small way', as well as Aloysius Gonzaga, who died at 23 in 1591 after taking care of an epidemic.
As Carlo Acutis's name advanced on the official path of the Catholic Church to the status of Holy, his body was moved to a church in the city of Assisi, located on a hill in central Italy, from where Saint Francis was in accordance with this desire of this Italian teenager.
The place of eternal rest of the new saint, where Carlo Acutis was buried next to a wax model that plays his face, wearing jacket, jeans and sports shoes, became a very popular pilgrimage place, attracting thousands of believers every day.
