A UK-born teenager who passed away in 2006 from leukaemia is all set to become the first “millennial saint” in Catholic history.
The development comes after the announcement by Pope Francis that a miracle credited to Blessed Carlo Acutis has been recognized, opening the door for the teen’s canonization shortly.
Francis took the decision during a meeting with the head of the Vatican’s saint-making department, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, a statement said on Thursday.
Let’s take a closer look.
About Carlo Acutis
Computer prodigy Carlo Acutis, who passed away in 2006, contributed to the online dissemination of Roman Catholic teaching, according to The Guardian.
Acutis was born in London in 1991 and spent his early years living in Milan with his Italian parents, Andrea Acutis and Antonia Salzano.
The teenager exhibited religious commitment even as a young child.
Before, at the age of three, Salzano told local newspaper Corriere della Sera that his son would want to visit the churches they passed in Milan and would give his pocket money to the city’s poor.
According to him, Acutis would also offer to help classmates whose parents were divorcing, stand up for their peers with disabilities when they were being bullied, and offer food and sleeping bags to Milan’s rough sleepers.
Acutis learned how to code while still in elementary school and went on to use his knowledge to build websites for Catholic groups and a global database of miracles.
His remains and possessions were placed on display in a tomb following his death in Italy.
His journey to sainthood
Acutis, 15, was put on the path of sainthood after a seven-year-old Brazilian youngster reportedly healed from a rare pancreatic illness by touching one of his t-shirts, and a priest prayed to him on the child’s behalf, as per NDTV.
The Pope evaluated and authorized the recovery, which was declared miraculous.
Acutis’s claim to a second miracle was accepted by Pope Francis on Thursday, making the young man eligible for canonization.
In a second case, the family of a Florence university student who had a brain bleed following a bicycle accident was informed that she was in a critical condition.
The youngster suffered “severe head trauma” from the collision, according to Vatican Newswhich Fox News Digital cited. Medical personnel had to move part of her skull to relieve pressure on her brain. They didn’t believe she would survive.
However, her daughter’s brain injury vanished, according to scans performed 10 days after her mother prayed for her recovery at the tomb of Acutis.
Acutis is the only canonized person who was born in the 1990s. Pope Francis has canonized a total of 912 people and the most recent one was in 1926, as per The Guardian.
Due to his “important role in evangelization through the internet”, Acutis was named as a patron of last year’s World Youth Day in Lisbon, organizers of the event said, as per Reuters.
A person meets the requirements to become a saint in Catholicism if the Pope has approved of two miracles that are credited to them.
The Medical Council of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes is the specific body within the Catholic church tasked with investigating the validity of miracles.
With inputs from agencies
