Carlo Acutis – a millennial saint for Gen Z

How does a soon-to-be canonised noughties teenager fit into the world of relics and holy medals?

Picture the scene. Winter is approaching in London, frosty winds tickle my face as I cross the Thames, and the Strand is alive with busy thirtysomethings queuing for overpriced salads. The delights of Humble Crumble in Covent Garden are just minutes away, but Google Maps shows me a sensible detour to avoid the crowds. The drapes of the Vatican flag hang low on Maiden Lane, sleeping despite the breeze, but the vibrant yellow promises a quick respite from the cold. Crumble can wait. Descending the steps to fall into prayer, the elaborate gold and lapis ceiling cannot distract from a new detailing in the red-brick: a young boy holding a gilded ciborium and … a laptop? Since when did laptops come into contact with the Eucharist?

In an era where most young people search for meaning in the endless scrolling of social media, ideas of holiness and sainthood can seem distant. But the figure in the wall, Blessed – soon to be Saint – Carlo Acutis, a British-born Italian teenager and computer enthusiast, has proven that faith and the modern world do not have to be mutually exclusive. His pictures are not dressed with gold or captioned in Latin, nor does he sport a priestly robe or Thomist tonsure; rather he stares through an early-2000s digital lens in his distinctive red shirt and denim jeans to invite us into communion with God. Through his example, we see that holiness is not reserved for the ordained clergy. It is something that anyone can strive for, even – perhaps especially – teenagers.

Carlo Acutis was born and baptised in London in 1991 but moved to Milan shortly after. Although his parents only found their faith after his death, Carlo exhibited striking behaviour as a child. He joined older women in the local parish church of Centola during summers to pray the Rosary, told his nanny that “Jesus would not be happy if I lost my temper” when other children stole his nursery toys, and as a three year old prayed for his grandfather who had “gone to see Jesus”. Carlo’s mother, Antonia Salzano, recalls: “As a little boy, especially after his First Communion, [Carlo] never missed his daily appointment with the Holy Mass and the Rosary, followed by a moment of Eucharistic adoration.”

During his early teenage years, Carlo developed remarkable computer skills, and between 2004 and 2006 created a website which catalogued each reported Eucharistic miracle in the world, in addition to a list of Marian apparitions, to introduce Jesus to a younger generation on their desktops. This exhibition, which involved the help of his entire family, was unveiled just over a week before his death. He was diagnosed with leukaemia and died four days later at the age of 15 on 12 October 2006, offering his suffering for Pope Benedict XVI and the Church. His final words were: “Mum, don’t be afraid. Since Jesus became a man, death has become the passage towards life, and we don’t need to flee it. Let us prepare ourselves to experience something extraordinary in the eternal life.”

Not many canonised saints can claim to have evangelised through a passion for technology. Even fewer have played Pokémon. For teenagers, saints can seem to be “too far away”, unapproachable, or difficult to comprehend when many are only just beginning to understand their Catholic faith.

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The French visionary St Catherine Labouré was my House Saint in secondary school, signified in the colour red on my school tie. She existed as a tapestry in the school hall without much of an introduction, alongside St Vincent de Paul, St Louise de Marillac and St Jeanne-Antide Thouret. It was only when my mum showed me a small relic of St Catherine, which she had been given by my grandma, that I began to really see the person behind the saint. I saw, in this sliver of bone, a glimpse of aspiration: “If St Catherine can change the world, maybe I can too.” I still wear a Miraculous Medal, which she commissioned after a Marian vision in 1830.

Of course, St Catherine Labouré’s time was almost two centuries before Carlo Acutis. But his close connection to the present has reinvigorated the idea of “intercession”: the act of asking a saint in heaven to pray on your behalf, to request their intervention with God to plead for your needs or desires. Indeed, his exhumed body is displayed in the Sanctuary of the Renunciation at the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Assisi, where many pilgrims have travelled to pray and seek his intercession since his beatification in 2020. First-class relics from his heart have also been distributed to churches worldwide to serve as reminders of his life and ways in which the faithful can connect spiritually with him. Carlo Acutis medals have already appeared – usually with Carlo’s face on the front, and symbols of the Eucharist on the reverse.

What could be more suitable in Carlo’s case? He may not have had an Instagram account, but his example of placing God at the centre of his day-to-day life even in those relatively-innocent days of the early internet sets a modern Catholic standard of how to navigate the modern world and its pressures of media with God at one’s side. In life, Acutis revered tradition and the Eucharist; in death, he is now part of that tradition. If there is one lesson we can learn from Carlo, it is surely that traditional and modern Catholicism can go hand in hand.

Carlo Acutis has become, in the well-worn phrase, “God’s influencer” – somebody whose life young people feel deeply connected with. In Carlo, they have discovered a unique kind of relevance for their own lives in which holiness and modern life can coexist from any age. Where Carlo’s deep love for the Eucharist – his “highway to heaven” – translated into action, it seems that other young people have discovered, within it, a new route to God.

This “patron saint of the internet” proves that faith is not about restriction; his message goes beyond the gimmick of technology. In Carlo, faith is revealed to be vibrant rather than outdated, and something to present to the world. He did not wait to take his faith seriously. He lived it fully every day. The challenge, as we anticipate his canonisation in April, is: how can you live like Carlo?

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