Carlo Acutis

A self-taught computer programmer from the age of eleven, Carlo Acutis placed his digital skills at the service of the Catholic faith. He created websites for his parish, Santa Maria Segreta in Milan, where he also became involved as a catechist at the age of twelve. His masterpiece is a traveling exhibition and a website cataloging and documenting 187 Eucharistic miracles recognized by the Church throughout history and across the world. Launched in 2004 and officially presented on October 4, 2006—just a few days before his death—this project aimed to bear witness to the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The exhibition, titled "The Eucharistic Miracles of the World," would be translated into several languages and displayed in more than ten thousand locations across five continents after his death. Carlo also created websites for various volunteer initiatives, winning the Italian national competition "Sarai volontario." He was also concerned for the most destitute, distributing food to the homeless of Milan. This unique synthesis of digital skills, a life of service, and spiritual depth would earn him the nicknames "cyber-apostle of the Eucharist" and "influencer of God."

The dominant trait of Carlo Acutis's spirituality is his passionate love for the Eucharist. He attended Mass every day without exception from his first communion until his hospitalization, convinced that "whoever approaches the Eucharist every day goes straight to heaven." His Marian devotion is also remarkable: he recited the rosary daily and confided to his loved ones that "the Virgin Mary is the only woman in my life." His spiritual models were Francis of Assisi, Anthony of Padua, and the visionaries of Fatima. Although he lived like an ordinary teenager—passionate about soccer and video games—he refused all forms of vanity and ostentatious consumption. To his catechist who offered him extra pocket money, he replied that he preferred to give it to the poor. His mother testifies that it was he, as a child, who brought her back to the faith through his insistent questions and constant prayer. Upon learning of his fulminant leukemia, he declared without bitterness: "There are people who suffer much more than I do," and offered all his sufferings to the Lord "for the Pope and for the Church." The beatification process officially recognized the heroism of his virtues in 2018, highlighting the exceptional consistency between his affirmed faith and his concrete life.

The opening of the diocesan process for the beatification of Carlo Acutis was decided by the Archdiocese of Milan in 2012. The decree recognizing the heroic nature of his virtues—which conferred upon him the title of "Venerable"—was promulgated by Pope Francis on July 5, 2018. The first miracle accepted for beatification concerns the unexplained healing, which occurred on October 12, 2013, in Campo Grande (Brazil), of a young boy named Mattheus Vianna, who was born with a congenital malformation of the pancreas (annular pancreas) and had suffered from constant vomiting since birth. His healing occurred instantaneously upon contact with a relic of Carlo Acutis. This miracle was officially recognized on November 14, 2019. The beatification was celebrated on October 10, 2020, in the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, by papal delegation. For the canonization, a second miracle was accepted: the complete healing of Valeria Valverde, a twenty-one-year-old Costa Rican woman, who had suffered a severe traumatic brain injury in 2022 in Florence during a bicycle accident, requiring an emergency craniotomy; her mother had gone on a pilgrimage to Carlo's tomb in Assisi, and the healing was total. This miracle was recognized on May 23, 2024, by Pope Francis. Carlo Acutis was canonized on September 7, 2025, in Saint Peter's Square in Rome, by Pope Leo XIV, jointly with Pier Giorgio Frassati, before approximately eighty thousand faithful. His liturgical feast is set for October 12, the anniversary of his death.

The influence of Carlo Acutis extends far beyond Italian borders. His body, transferred in 2019 to Assisi, rests in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, exposed for the veneration of pilgrims in the attire he wore during his lifetime—jeans, sneakers, and a sports jacket. This place has become an important center of pilgrimage. His traveling exhibition on Eucharistic miracles, translated into numerous languages, has been hosted in thousands of parishes, seminaries, and cathedrals across five continents, remaining an active instrument of evangelization long after his death. Carlo Acutis is commonly referred to as the "patron saint of the internet" and "patron saint of the Y generation (millennials)." He was named patron of the Youth Jubilee during the 2023 World Youth Day in Lisbon. His figure inspires a new way of envisioning holiness in the contemporary world: ordinary in tastes and hobbies, extraordinary in the constancy of prayer and service. His mother, Antonia Salzano, whose profound conversion is directly linked to her son's faith, testifies regularly around the world. The siblings born after his death—twins—are considered by his family as a sign of Carlo's intercession.