“God’s influencer.” Leo XIV canonizou Carlo Acuti, the first saint millennial

Known as “O influencer De Deus ”, Carlo Acutis, an Internet-eager Italian teenager who died in 2006, at age 15, was today canonized by Pope Leo XIV, becoming the first ‘millennial’ to be declared holy.

During a solemn mass, the Pope said the Latin formula this Sunday that confirms the canonization of Carlo acute and also of the lay student Pier fractured Giorgio (1901-1925), which was received with strong applause in the Basilica of St. Peter.

The outdoor ceremony was attended by thousands of faithful from around the world, especially young people who are devoted to the new saint, popularly known as “The influence of God”, That transported saints with the image of the teenager.

When heading to the tens of thousands of faithful who filled St. Peter’s Square on Sunday for Canonization Mass, Leo XIV said that the examples of these two young saints “invite us to all, especially young people, to direct our lives to God and make them masterpieces of holiness, service and joy.”

The ceremony was attended by the Italian president, Sergio Mattarella and the parents and the two brothers of Carlo Acutis. Your mother, Antonia Salzanohe was responsible for bringing the reliquary containing a fragment of his son’s heart to the altar.

São Carlos Acutis It is thus the first saint of the so -called generation of ‘millennial’ (born between 1981 and 1996). He was born in London on May 3, 1991, where his father lived, but shortly thereafter, he moved with his family to Milan.

After receiving communion at age 7, he began to devote himself to the church, having described his faith with a phrase that later became famous among the devotees: “A Eucharist is my way to heaven”.

Acute, which lia voraciously university books on programminghe started working with a computer engineering student on the parish’s website, with whom he learned to draw and create ‘websites’ and fell in love with this activity.

Won the nickname of “influencer of God ” thanks to its main technological legacy: a multilingual site that documenting the so -called miracles Eucharistic recognized by the Church, a project that concluded at a time when the development of these ‘websites’ was only from the domain of professionals.

Acutis was known for spend hours in prayer every day. The Catholic hierarchy has been striving to promote the practice of Eucharistic worship because, according to polls, most Catholics do not believe that Christ is “present” in Eucharistic hosts, the moment of the Mass when the priest makes bread (the host) in the body of Christ.

O “Ciberapostol of the Eucharist” It was known in its neighborhood for kindness to those who lived on the fringes of society.

“With your savings, bought bags for the homeless And at night he brought them hot drinks, ”his mother told the Catholic news agency.“ It was better to have a pair of less shoes If that meant being able to do another good job. ”

In October 2006, he was diagnosed an aggressive form of leukemia And, a few days later, Died at 15 and 5 months of age, on October 12, 2006.

“When he died in the funeral, The church was full of poor people. Everyone wondered what they were doing there. Well, Carlo used to help them in secret, ”he said Nicola Goriwhich represented the case of Beatification of Acutis.

His body was conserved and exposed in the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, in Italy, where Dressed dress and nike tennisbeing venerated by faithful from around the world.

He was Blessed on October 10, 2020 And on May 23, it was announced that the Pope had signed the decree for his canonization.

The congregation for the cause of the saints recognized as a miracle of his own to cure, considered inexplicable by experts, of a child Born in Brazil in 2010 with a congenital malformation of the pancreas.

O according to miracle that led to its canonization It is related to a woman from Costa Rica who, in July 2022, made a pilgrimage to the tomb of Acutis, in Assisi, to Pray for the healing of your daughter, Valeriawho had suffered a serious head injury after falling from the bicycle.

Valéria, a young student from Florence, suffered a head And doctors gave him very little hypotheses of survival, but on the day of the mother’s pilgrimage to Carlo’s grave, The girl started breathing alone.

During the first canonization mass of his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV also canonized theutra popular Italian figure who died youngPier chorgio Frassedi.

Both ceremonies were scheduled for early this year, but were postponed due to April.

Francisco fervently defended Carlo’s canonizationconvinced that the church needed someone like him to attract young Catholics to faith, while addressing the promises and dangers of the digital age.