The London-born Italian teenager Carlo Acutis is likely to become the first “millennial saint” after two miracles attributed to him were recognized by Pope Francis. READ: Carlo Acutis to be first millennial saint: Pope Francis recognizes miracle for canonization Spending most of his life in Milan, Acutis was an incredibly devout Catholic who went on regular pilgrimages across Europe. He had a desire to attend mass daily and regularly pray the rosary – but he also loved playing video games and teaching himself computer coding and animation .
Aged only 15, Acutis was diagnosed with untreatable leukemia. He died in 2006 and was eventually buried in Assisi. The cause for his canonization started in 2013 and he was designated “venerable” in 2018, a term which recognizes that an individual was “heroic in virtue” through their actions during their lifetime.
After the approval of the first miracle – the healing of a Brazilian child’s pancreas after the boy venerated (prayed to and revered) one of Acutis’s relics – he was declared “blessed” in 2020 at the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi. A year earlier, Acutis’s remains had been moved to the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Assisi, where his body and relics have been on display ever since. An official livestream is witness to the constant flow of pilgrims that visit him.
The second miracle attributed to Acutis, in 2022, saw a woman from Costa Rica recover from severe head trauma and craniotomy surgery .