Carlo Acutis: How do you become a saint – and how did the millennial saint do it?

Published

5 months ago

April 20, 2025

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London-born teenager Carlo Acutis is about to become the first millennial saint, almost 20 years after his death.

The teenager, whose Italian family moved to Milan months after his birth in 1991, dedicated his short life to Catholicism, and died of leukaemia in 2006 aged 15.

Having passed all the posthumous trials necessary for sainthood, he will be canonised on 27 April in St Peter’s Square in Vatican City.

But what does it take to become a saint and how did Carlo achieve it?

Here’s everything you need to know.

What does it mean to be a saint?

All Christians are called to be saints, but only a select few throughout history have been officially recognised as one.

A saint is defined in Catholicism as people in heaven who lived heroically virtuous lives, offered their life for others, or were martyred for the faith, and who are worthy of imitation.

How do you become a saint – and how did Carlo do it?

There are four steps on the path to becoming a saint:

Stage 1 – Servant of God

A postulator – essentially a cheerleader advocating for the candidate – gathers testimony and documentation and presents the case to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

This process usually begins at least five years after the death of the person in question.

Carlo was dedicated to the church throughout his short life, receiving first communion at the age of seven and regularly attending daily Mass, praying the rosary and participating in eucharistic adoration.

But it was through mixing his faith with technology that Carlo had the most impact, informally becoming known as “God’s influencer” as he used his computer skills to spread the Catholic faith.

He started publishing newsletters for his local churches, taking care of his parish website and later of a Vatican-based academy.

He became particularly interested in something called Eucharistic miracles.

These are events deemed miracles which take place around the Eucharist, which is the traditional name the Christian church gives to the re-enactment of the Last Supper.

It’s the moment when the faithful are given a small piece of bread and a sip of wine, called the Holy Communion. They believe that, through the consumption of the bread and wine, Jesus Christ enters those who take part.

Carlo started logging miracles on a website, which eventually went viral and has since been translated into many of the world’s most widely spoken languages.

Stage 2 – Venerable

If worthy, the case is forwarded to the Pope, who signs a decree confirming the candidate’s “heroic virtues”. The person is now called “venerable”.

Carlo was named venerable in 2018 after the church recognised his virtuous life, and his body was taken to a shrine in Assisi’s Santuario della Spogliazione, a major site linked to St Francis’ life.

Stage 3 – Beatification

You become beatified – the declaration by the Pope that a dead person is in a state of bliss – when a miracle in your name is identified and formally declared a miracle by the Pope.

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.

The Pope tends to accept it as such when witnesses “verify” someone was healed after prayer and doctors/clergy conclude that it had no medical explanation, was instant and lasting.

If verified, the candidate is beatified and becomes “blessed”.

Carlo’s first supposed miracle was the healing of a boy called Mattheus Vianna, who was born in 2009 in Brazil with a serious birth defect that left him unable to keep food in his stomach.

As a young boy, he was forced to live on vitamins and protein shakes but regularly vomited after meals and was unable to put on weight.

Mattheus, according to his priest, touched one of Carlo’s relics in church and said “stop vomiting” – an act which is said to have cured him.

In February 2014, his family ordered further tests and he was found to be fully cured, the priest said.

In 2019, the claimed miracle was acknowledged by the Vatican and confirmed by Pope Francis a few months later, paving the way for Carlo to become beatified in 2020.

Stage 4 – Sainthood

A second miracle is required in order to reach sainthood.

If verified, the candidate can be canonised and made a saint. A formal canonisation ceremony at the Vatican follows.

The second miracle in Carlo’s name was the reported healing of a Costa Rican girl studying in Italy who suffered a major head trauma.

Her mother said she prayed at Carlo’s tomb after the incident, invoking his spirit and leading to her daughter’s full recovery.

Pope Francis attributed the second miracle to Carlo after a meeting with the head of the Vatican’s saint-making department, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, in May 2024.

Sainthood is rare – but not as much as it used to be

It isn’t known exactly how many sainthoods have been handed out in the Catholic church’s history, though estimates tend to sit at around 10,000.

For hundreds of years, they were selected through public acclaim, until Pope John XV led the first canonisation in the year 993, making Bishop Ulrich of Augsburg a saint.

Canonisation has been more common in recent years, though, with the late Pope John Paul II, who was the Pope from 1978 until his death in 2005, declaring 482 saints during his tenure – more than all of his predecessors.

That record was overtaken just two months into Pope Francis’ tenure, as he canonised more than 800 15th-century martyrs, the so-called “Martyrs of Otranto,” who were beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam.

Since then, the Pope has gone on to grant a number of other high-profile sainthoods, including his predecessors Pope John Paul II and John XXIII, married couple Louis and Zelie Martin, who lived in France during the 19th century, and Mother Teresa.

He’ll take to St Peter’s Square on 27 April at 9.30am UK time – in conjunction with the celebration of the Holy Year’s jubilee for teens – and canonise the first ever millennial saint.

World

Trump has ‘heated phone call’ with Netanyahu over strike targeting Hamas in Qatar

Published

13 hours ago

September 10, 2025

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Trump has 'heated phone call' with Netanyahu over strike targeting Hamas in Qatar

Donald Trump had a heated phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after his military targeted Hamas inside Qatar, according to a report.

The American president told Mr Netanyahu on Tuesday that the decision to strike inside the US ally’s territory was not wise, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing senior administration officials.

The Israeli prime minister responded by saying he had a brief window to launch the airstrike and took the opportunity, according to the newspaper.

A second call between the two leaders later that day was cordial, with Mr Trump asking Mr Netanyahu if the attack had been successful, the publication added.

Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of the Islamist group Hamas with the attack in the Qatari capital Doha on Tuesday.

Hamas has said its top leaders survived the airstrike, but five members were killed, including the son of its exiled Gaza chief and top negotiator Khalil al Hayya.

The Israeli military operation in Doha has been widely condemned internationally and was particularly sensitive as Qatar has been hosting and mediating in negotiations which are trying to bring about a ceasefire in the war in Gaza.

On Wednesday, Mr Netanyahu warned Qatar to either expel Hamas officials or “bring them to justice. Because if you don’t, we will”.

Qatar has hit back at him, saying his comments about the Gulf nation hosting a Hamas office were “reckless”.

Meanwhile, the Israeli ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, has said that if Israel failed to kill Hamas leaders on Tuesday, it would succeed next time.

“We have put terrorists on notice, wherever they may be… we’re going to pursue them, and we’re going to destroy those who will destroy us,” he said.

The airstrike took place shortly after Hamas claimed responsibility for Monday’s shooting at a bus stop on the outskirts of Jerusalem that killed six people.

In another development, Sir Keir Starmer has had talks with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Downing Street, with Mr Herzog saying they argued during a “tough meeting”.

PM condemns Israeli action

The prime minister has condemned the Israeli attack in Qatar, and raised the matter with the president, saying it was “completely unacceptable”.

“He said the strikes were a flagrant violation of a key partner’s sovereignty and do nothing to secure the peace we all desperately want to see,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.

Israel has been angered by Britain’s plans to join several other Western countries, including France and Canada, in recognising a Palestinian state later this month – unless Israel meets conditions including a ceasefire in Gaza.

“Things were said that were tough and strong, and clearly we can argue, because when allies meet, they can argue. We are both democracies,” Mr Herzog said at an event at Chatham House.

He also proposed offering a “fact-finding mission” to Israel, “sitting with us and studying the situation in Gaza on the humanitarian level”.

“Because we have full answers, and we are fully transparent,” he said.

World

Drones and salami: How Putin is testing the West with Poland airspace violation

Published

21 hours ago

September 10, 2025

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Drones and salami: How Putin is testing the West with Poland airspace violation

The unprecedented Russian drone attacks on Poland are both a test and a warning. How Europe and NATO respond could be crucial to security on this continent.

The Russians are past masters at what’s called “salami slicing”. Tactics that use a series of smaller actions to produce a much bigger outcome that otherwise would have been far more provocative.

The Kremlin is probing the West with gradual but steady escalation. A British Council building and an EU installation are bombed in Kyiv; a senior EU official’s plane’s GPS is jammed.

On their own each provocation produces nothing more than rhetoric from the West – but new lines are crossed and Russia is emboldened.

Ukraine war latest: NATO chief sends message to Putin

Putin is good at this.

He used salami slicing tactics masterfully in 2014 with his “little green men” invasion of Crimea, a range of ambiguous military and diplomatic tactics to take control. The West’s confused delay in responding sealed Crimea’s fate.

He has just taken a larger slice of salami with his drone attacks on Poland.

They are of course a test of NATO’s readiness to deploy its Article 5 obligations. Russia has attacked a member state, allies believe deliberately.

Will NATO trigger the all for one, one for all mechanism in Poland’s defence and attack Russia? Not very likely.

But failing to respond projects weakness. Putin will see the results of his test and plot the next one.

Expect lots of talk of sanctions but remember they failed to avert this invasion and have failed to persuade Russia to reverse it. The only sanctions likely to bite are the ones the US president refuses to approve, on Russia’s oil trade.

So how are the drones also a warning? Well, they pose a question.

Vladimir Putin is asking the West if it really wants to become more involved in this conflict with its own forces. Europeans are considering putting boots on the ground inside Ukraine after any potential ceasefire.

If this latest attack is awkward and complicated and hard to respond to now, what happens if Russia uses hybrid tactics then?

Deniable, ambiguous methods that the Russians excel in could make life very difficult for the alliance if it is embroiled in Ukraine.

Think twice before committing your troops there, Russia is warning the West.

There is more Europe could do.

It could stop buying Russian energy, which it is still astonishingly importing – more than 20 billion euros a year at the last count.

It could use its massive economic advantage (20 times that of Russia’s, and that was before the war) to do more to fund Ukraine’s defence.

While it continues to do neither, expect more excruciating slices of the salami to come.

World

Riot police clash with ‘Block Everything’ protesters in Paris

Published

1 day ago

September 10, 2025

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Riot police clash with 'Block Everything' protesters in Paris

Riot police have clashed with protesters in Paris after they took to the streets in response to calls to ‘Block Everything’ over discontent with the French government.

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of the French capital and other cities, including Marseille and Montpellier, in response to the online ‘Bloquons Tout’ campaign, which is urging people to strike, block roads, and other public services.

The government has deployed more than 80,000 officers to respond to the unrest, which has seen 200 arrested nationwide so far, according to police, and comes on the same day the new prime minister is being sworn in.

Demonstrators were seen rolling bins into the middle of roads to stop cars, while police rushed to remove the makeshift blockades as quickly as possible.

Tear gas was used by police outside Paris‘s Gare du Nord train station, where around 1,000 gathered, clutching signs declaring Wednesday a public holiday.

Others in the city blocked the entrance to a high school where firefighters were forced to remove burnt objects from a barricade.

Elsewhere in the country, traffic disruptions were reported on major roads in Marseille, Montpellier, Nantes, and Lyon.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau told reporters a group of protesters had torched a bus in the Breton city of Rennes.

Fourth prime minister in a year

The ‘Block Everything’ rallies come amid spiralling national debt and are similar to the Yellow Vest movement that broke out over tax increases during President Emmanuel Macron’s first term.

‘Bloquons tout’ was first spearheaded online by right-wing groups in May but has since been embraced by the left and far left, experts say.

On Monday, former Prime Minister Francois Bayrou lost a vote of no confidence, and was replaced by Sebastien Lecornu at the Hotel Matignon on Wednesday afternoon, becoming the fourth person in the job in just 12 months.

A teacher, Christophe Lalande, taking part in the Paris protests, told reporters at the scene: “Bayrou was ousted, [now] his policies must be eliminated.”

Elsewhere, union member Amar Lagha said: “This day is a message to all the workers of this country: that there is no resignation, the fight continues, and a message to this government that we won’t back down, and if we have to die, we’ll die standing.”