How a teenage ‘God influencer’ became the first millennial saint
Teenager Carlos Acutis has become the first ever millennial saint following his canonisation at St Peter’s Square by Pope Leo XIV. Find out how the self-taught coder received the holy honour
READING LEVEL: ORANGE
Blessed Carlos Acutis has been named as the first millennial-generation saint* by Pope Leo XIV.
Thousands of people attended the open-air mass in St Peter’s Square in the Vatican City to celebrate the young saint.
His canonisation* was scheduled to take place in April this year, but was postponed due to the death of Pope Francis.
Saint Carlos died in 2006 at only 15.
He sadly lost his battle with leukaemia, but he was known for being a “God Influencer” and spreading the Catholic faith online.
He was born in 1991 in London and was a self-taught coder. He also used to document miracles and promote the Catholic faith and its teachings online.
According to religious publication the Catholic Leader, in his short life, he attended daily mass and was never shy to discuss God with classmates. He even encouraged his parents to become more devout* Catholics.
Two miracles have been attributed* to the 15-year-old. The first was the healing of Matheus Vianna, a four-year-old Brazilian boy, who was born with severe malformation* of the pancreas*.
The little boy’s mother said it was her prayers to Carlos that led to his full recovery – a recovery that happened against the odds.
This miracle led to Carlos’ beatification*, and his relics* and tomb were opened to the public in 2020. Saint Carlos was laid to rest in jeans, Nike sneakers, and a jacket and he is encased in wax to retain his likeness – a practice commonly performed by the Catholic Church to preserve the bodies of saints and relics.
The second miracle attributed to him happened in 2022, when a young woman Valeria Valvrede, 21, was badly injured in a biking accident.
Her family was told she could die at any moment, her mother travelled to Assisi* and prayed to the tomb of Carlos, and Valeria started breathing again that same day before going on to make a full recovery.
WHAT IS CANONISATION?
Canonisation is the official act of naming a deceased person a saint within the Christian faith, usually either the Roman Catholic Church or the Eastern Orthodox Church. It follows a formal process that results in the deceased person being recognised as being worthy of veneration* by members of the church.
In the Roman Catholic Church, the process starts when the local bishop opens an official cause for beatification and canonisation. The person has to have been deceased for at least five years before this can happen. If the church agrees, the person can be declared a “Servant of God.”
The church then investigates whether the person devoted their life to God and lived with “heroic virtue*” and whether the person’s death was a martyrdom – that is, whether they died defending their faith.
The findings are submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, where it is voted on by officials. If successful, the cardinals and bishops of the Congregation then review the findings, which by this stage have been collated into a Positio*.
If the Positio passes, it moves onto the Pope, who decides whether to approve the person’s heroic virtue, naming them either venerable* or blessed.
If a person is named venerable, they then need a miracle attributed to them that can’t be explained by science to become known as blessed. Once they are blessed, they have entered the state of beatification, where they are believed to be in Heaven and able to plead to God for you if you pray to them.
A second approved miracle must then take place after the person’s beatification before the Pope can declare the blessed person a saint.
WHAT COUNTS AS A “MIRACLE”?
Miracles most often refer to the sudden healing or remission* of a life-threatening medical condition that can’t be explained by natural causes. The healing must have occurred after prayers to the deceased person being considered for sainthood.
The Catholic Church has a formal process for assessing miracles that includes appointing a medical board of scientific experts to look for other explanations. Two thirds of the board have to confirm that the healing event can’t be explained by natural causes in order for the miracle to be approved.
THE YOUNGEST SAINTS
While Saint Carlos is the youngest person to be canonised in recent years, there are many younger saints recognised by the Roman Catholic Church.
At just 10 and nine years of age when they died, Portuguese siblings Saints Francisco and Jacinta Marto from Portugal are the youngest to have been canonised by the Catholic Church in modern times. The pair died of influenza* (Francisco in 1919 and Jacinta in 1920) after reportedly seeing apparitions* of the Virgin Mary and the Angel of Portugal* several times.
Italian girl Saint Maria Goretti was just 11 when she died a martyr in 1902 after being attacked by her neighbour. She was canonised in 1950.
Saint Agnes of Rome was about 12-13 when she was martyred in 304AD for refusing to marry the son of a Roman official.
POLL
GLOSSARY
- saint: a person seen as holy and as having a close connection with god while having unwavering morals and the exceptional ability to educate or lead others in living a morally sound life in service of the divine
- canonisation: the process of officially naming a person as a saint within the Roman Catholic Church
- devout: showing deep religious commitment
- attributed: caused by
- malformation: abnormally formed
- pancreas: an organ that helps you digest food and regulate the amount of sugar in your blood
- beatification: a recognition by the Pope that a deceased person has entered heaven and is in a state of bliss and on their way to officially becoming a saint
- relics: part of a deceased holy person’s body or belongings that has been kept as an object of reverence
- Assisi: a town in Italy where Saint Francis was born and died. The body of Saint Carlos is displayed in a glass tomb at the Sanctuary of the Spoliation in Assisi because of his connection with Saint Francis
- veneration: great respect, reverence
- heroic virtue: the practice of Christian virtues beyond ordinary human capabilities
- Positio: a document created by the Catholic Church to provide evidence of a person’s heroic virtues in the process of canonisation
- venerable: someone who has gained a lot of holiness but hasn’t been beatified or canonised yet
- remission: a pause in the symptoms or severity of pain or disease
- influenza: the flu
- apparitions: visions
- Angel of Portugal: an angel that is said to have appeared to Francisco and Jacinta Marto and their cousin Lucia dos Santos three times to prepare them for visions of the Virgin Mary at Cova de Iria in 1917 that led to the “Miracle of Fatima” where the sun appeared to fall towards the earth
EXTRA READING
Pope Leo the first American pontiff
Remembering Pope Francis
Pope asks us to help the poor
QUICK QUIZ
1. How many miracles must be attributed to a person during the canonisation process?
2. How old was Saint Carlos when he died?
3. What miracles were attributed to him?
4. What is beatification?
5. Who are the youngest children to be canonised as saints by the Roman Catholic Church (hint, they were siblings)?
LISTEN TO THIS STORY
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Why?
Why do you think the Catholic Church creates saints? Use information in the story and your own ideas to write your answer.
Time: allow at least 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Personal and Social Capability
2. Extension
Imagine that our Kids News journalist can’t finish the story and you have been asked to help. Your job is to use your research skills to find out about the first Australian saint. Use any information that you have found to write an extra paragraph for the story that will help other kids learn about this person and why they were canonised.
Time: allow at least 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, History
VCOP ACTIVITY
Activity: Vocabulary and Sentence Construction
Objective: To help students expand their vocabulary and improve sentence construction skills using words from the article that are not words already in the Glossary.
Instructions:
1. Read the article and select five wow words from the article that you find interesting or new. These words should help your partner understand the article’s primary intention.
2. Set up a game for your partner to guess the word you refer to. Define each of your chosen words in a way your classmate will understand. Write a sentence for each word that relates to the article or makes sense on its own.
3. Share with your classmate to see if they can guess the word.
EXAMPLE
Definition: The feeling of being glad that something difficult is over.
Sentence: There was a sense of relief as more volunteers arrived to help with the clean-up.
Word for your partner to guess: Relief
Extension Challenge (Optional): If you finish early, try to use two of your chosen words in a single sentence to show how you can connect ideas.