UK
London-born teenager to become a saint after miracle recognised by the Pope
A London-born teenager is set to become the first millennial to be made a saint after he has had a second miracle attributed to him by Pope Francis.
Carlo Acutis, who died of leukaemia in 2006, aged 15, was beatified in 2020 after appearing to have cured a Brazilian boy, Mattheus Vianna, of a serious birth defect which left him unable to keep down his food.
That miracle, which dates back to February 2014, saw the boy being “fully cured” after he touched Carlo’s relic and said “stop vomiting”, a priest and family friend of Mattheus’s said.
The second miracle saw a girl from Costa Rica who was studying in Italy reportedly being healed after suffering a head trauma.
She was reportedly cured by the boy after he was invoked by her mother, Avvenire, the daily newspaper of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI), reports.
Pope Francis took the decision to attribute the second miracle to Carlo during a meeting with the head of the Vatican’s saint-making department, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro.
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Carlo was informally known as “God’s influencer” as he used his computer skills to spread the Catholic faith.
Born in London, Carlo grew up in Milan where he took care of his parish website and later of a Vatican-based academy.
Pope Francis, pictured in December. Pic: AP/Gregorio Borgia
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The attribution of a second miracle means the boy can now be elevated to sainthood, but the Vatican did not say when this would happen.
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that only God performs miracles, but that saints who are believed to be with God in heaven intercede on behalf of people who pray to them.
Typically, miracles are the medically inexplicable healing of a person.
Due to his “important role in evangelisation through the internet”, Carlo was named as a patron of last year’s World Youth Day in Lisbon, organisers of the event said.