An Italian teenager who was informally known as “God’s Influencer” for using his computer skills to spread the Catholic faith is set to become the first saint of the millennial generation, the Vatican announced Thursday.
Carlo Acutis died of leukemia in 2006 at the age of 15. Born in London, he grew up in Milan where he managed the website for his parish and later a Vatican-based academy. He also used his computer skills to create an online database of Eucharistic miracles around the world.
Gregorio Borgia / AP
The teenager was beatified – the first step toward sainthood – in 2020 after one miracle was attributed to him. In that miracle, Acutis is credited with healing a Brazilian child of a congenital disease affecting his pancreas.
On Thursday, Pope Francis attributed a second miracle to Acutis during a meeting with the head of the Vatican’s saint-making department, Cardinal Marcello Semararo.
The second miracle involved the healing of a university student in Florence who had a brain bleed after suffering head trauma, CBS News partner BBC News reported.
The attribution of a second miracle means Acutis can be elevated to sainthood, but the Vatican did not say when this would happen.
Acutis died in Monza, Italy. His body was moved to Assisi a year after his death and is on full display alongside other relics linked to him. He was also named a patron of last year’s World Youth Day in Lisbon because of his “important role in evangelization through the internet,” organizers of the event said at the time, Reuters reported.
The pope also advanced sainthood causes for six men and a woman.