Pope Francis has said he will canonise a teenager born in London, setting the date for them to become the first millennial saint of the Catholic Church.
Carlo Acutis has been dubbed the “saint of the internet age” and “god’s influencer”.
He used his computer skills to record and spread the word of Catholicism in the digital era – a move that proved popular with the church.
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Carlo died of leukaemia aged 15 in 2006.
In 2020, he was beatified after a Brazilian boy’s family said he was cured of a serious birth defect that left him unable to keep down food – after obtaining an item as a relic from Carlo’s mother and praying to him.
Carlo is also credited with a second miracle reported by the church. In 2022, a girl from Costa Rica suffered a serious head injury after falling off a bike in Florence, Italy.
She is said to have recovered against the odds after her mother prayed at Carlo’s tomb in Assisi.
Earlier this year, Pope Francis approved this second miracle attributed to Carlo, paving the way for him to be made a saint.
The announcement confirming the move was made during the Pope’s weekly audience on Wednesday.
Carlo will be canonised during the Jubilee of Adolescents at the Vatican on the weekend of 25-27 April next year, church officials confirmed.
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Carlo was born to Italian parents in London.
He was a web designer and used his computer skills to create a website to catalogue miracles and took care of websites for some local Catholic organisations.
