Vatican to Canonize 15-Year-Old Boy, He Will Be the First Saint of the 21st Century

Pope Francis has recognized the second miracle attributed to Italian teenager Carlo Acutis, who passed away in 2006, and announced that a consistory of cardinals will be convened to confirm Acutis' canonization, reports Vatican News.

Carlo will become the first saint of the generation whose childhood and adolescence took place in the 1990s and 2000s. Among Catholics, Carlo Acutis is often referred to as the "Patron of the Internet" and "God's Influencer." He was born in 1991 in London and later moved to Milan. His mother, Antonia Acutis, shared that her son believed from a young age; by the age of seven, he attended Mass every day and would donate his pocket money to the homeless.

According to the Catholic News Agency, Carlo's strong beliefs inspired his parents to return to their faith, and even led to their Indian assistant converting to Catholicism. While in elementary school, Acutis learned programming and began creating websites for Catholic organizations, as well as developing a site that documented miracles around the world. His classmates recalled that he "brought many closer to God" as he was unafraid to speak about his faith.

After passing away from leukemia in 2006, Carlo Acutis was buried in Assisi, Italy. His mother reported that people from all over the world shared stories with her about the miracles that occurred after they prayed to her deceased son. In 2020, the Assisi diocese petitioned the Vatican to canonize Carlo Acutis.

Carlo Acutis has already been beatified, recognized for the first miracle attributed to him, which involved the healing of a 7-year-old boy from Brazil suffering from a rare pancreatic disease. The boy healed after touching one of Carlo's shirts. The second miracle recognized by Francis involved the healing of 21-year-old student Valeria Valverde from Costa Rica, who suffered a head injury after falling off her bike and needed brain surgery, with doctors warning she had little chance of survival. Valeria's mother prayed at Carlo Acutis' grave for her daughter's recovery, and on the same day, Valeria began to rapidly improve. Ten days later, a CT scan revealed no traces of bleeding in her brain, and she was transferred to a rehabilitation center.

The Catholic News Agency speculates that Carlo Acutis could be canonized in 2025, making him the only saint who has lived in the 21st century.