An Italian teenager who was informally referred to as “God’s Influencer” for using his computer skills to spread the Catholic faith is ready to develop into the primary saint of the millennial generation, the Vatican announced Thursday.
Carlo Acutis died of leukemia in 2006 on the age of 15. Born in London, he grew up in Milan where he managed the web site for his parish and later a Vatican-based academy. He also used his computer skills to create an internet database of Eucharistic miracles all over the world.
Gregorio Borgia / AP
The teenager was beatified – step one 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 gathering with the top 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 could be elevated to sainthood, however the Vatican didn’t say when this could occur.
Acutis died in Monza, Italy. His body was moved to Assisi a yr after his death and is on full display alongside other relics linked to him. He was also named a patron of last yr’s World Youth Day in Lisbon due to his “vital role in evangelization through the web,” organizers of the event said on the time, Reuters reported.
The pope also advanced sainthood causes for six men and a lady.Â
