London-born Carlo Acutis to be first millenial saint

A London-born teenager dubbed “God’s influencer” is to become the Church’s first millennial saint.

Carlo Acutis, who loved the Eucharist, and video games, died aged 15 of leukaemia in October 2006.

Born in London to Italian parents, he was baptised in the Church of Our Lady of Dolours, Chelsea in May 1991.

By the age of 3, Carlo asked to visit churches to pray. After his family returned to Milan, Carlo befriended the local homeless. He defended school peers from bullying, including a girl criticised for wearing a sari.

Aged 9, he learnt computer programming. “He knew he could use the internet for evangelising,” said his mother, Antonia Salzano, who visited London to speak about her son in 2023.

She said Carlo had changed her own faith: “He helped me understand that in receiving Holy Communion we have the real presence of God, it is not just a symbol. This was the discovery of my life”. 

Just before dying, Acutis launched a website to document every reported miracle linked to the Eucharist.

Two miracles have been now attributed to Acutis. In 2020, a Brazilian’s healing from a rare pancreatic disease was attributed to Acutis. Last week, Pope Francis approved as miraculous the healing of a 21-year-old Costa Rican following a bicycling accident in 2022.

Valeria Valverde’s family were informed she could die while undergoing emergency surgery after the accident in Florence. Her mother undertook a pilgrimage to Assisi, praying for Valverde’s healing at the tomb of Blessed Carlo Acutis.

That same day, Valeria began to breathe without artificial assistance. The next day, she recovered the use of her upper limbs. When discharged from intensive care, tests revealed that the haemorraeghic cortical contusion in her brain had completely disappeared.

Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Vincent Nichols told The Tablet Acutis’s canonisation was “the fast-track to sainthood”.

He said the “computer savvy” Acutis who was  “sometimes bullied at school” was “now held before the world as an inspiration for us” because he understood the purpose of life.

“He said that he was not afraid to die because he did not waste a minute of his life on things that didn’t please God. He had a pathway to follow.”

The Cardinal added, “He said the Eucharist is the highway to heaven. He lived each day cheerfully, always united with Jesus.”

He described Acutis as “joyful, courageous, generous” and “a saint for our day and everyday. And a Londoner! A star!”

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