An Italian teenager nicknamed “God’s Influencer” for using his internet talents to propagate the Catholic religion will become the first saint of the millennial generation, the Vatican declared Thursday.
Carlo Acutis died of leukemia in 2006, when he was 15. Born in London, he grew up in Milan, where he ran his parish’s website and later a Vatican-based academy. He also used his computer skills to create an online database of Eucharistic marvels from all over the world.
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2020 saw the youngster’s beatification, the first step toward sainthood, following the attribution of a miracle. Acutis is believed to have healed a Brazilian child from a congenital illness affecting his pancreas in that miracle.
On Thursday, Pope Francis credited Acutis with a second miracle during a meeting with Cardinal Marcello Semararo, head of the Vatican’s saint-making department.
The second miracle included the recovery of a university student in Florence who suffered a brain bleed as a result of head trauma, according to CBS News partner BBC News.
The Vatican did not specify when Acutis might become a saint, despite the attribution of a second miracle.
Acutis perished in Monza, Italy. A year after his death, organizers brought his body to Assisi, where it is now on full display alongside other relics associated with him. Reuters reported that event organizers appointed him as a patron of last year’s World Youth Day in Lisbon for his “important role in evangelization through the internet.”
The pope also promoted sainthood causes for six men and one woman.
