On September 7, 2025, the Vatican witnessed a momentous event: the canonisation of Carlo Acutis, a London-born Italian teenager who has become the first millennial to be declared a Catholic saint. The ceremony, held at 10am local time in St Peter’s Square and led by Pope Leo XIV, drew tens of thousands of worshippers from across the globe, eager to witness a new chapter in the Church’s long and storied history. For many, this was more than just a ritual—it was a sign of hope and relevance in a rapidly changing world.
Carlo Acutis, affectionately dubbed “God’s Influencer” and the “saint in sneakers,” was born in London in 1991 to Italian parents working in finance. According to the BBC, his baptism took place at Our Lady of Dolours Church in Chelsea, a parish that has since become a pilgrimage site, complete with a shrine housing a strand of Carlo’s hair. Shortly after his baptism, his family moved back to Milan, where Carlo spent the rest of his brief but impactful life.
From a young age, Carlo’s interests reflected those of many of his peers: he loved soccer, Pokémon, gaming—especially on his PlayStation, which he limited to just one hour a week to keep his focus on God—and his dog Billy. Yet, as ABC News notes, Carlo was also remarkably devout for his age, attending Mass daily and dedicating himself to sharing his faith using the tools of his generation. At just 11 years old, he created an interactive website cataloguing Eucharistic miracles—supernatural events involving the bread and wine of communion. That website, now available in nearly 20 languages, remains accessible and has been displayed as an exhibition on five continents, a testament to his digital savvy and missionary zeal.
Carlo’s passion for technology and faith earned him a reputation as a pioneer of digital evangelism. As Al Jazeera reports, he taught himself basic coding and used his skills to document not only miracles but also visions of the Virgin Mary and other aspects of Catholic teaching. He even built websites for religious causes, demonstrating that technology and spirituality need not be at odds. Pope Francis, who championed Carlo’s cause for sainthood, wrote in a 2019 document, “Carlo was well aware that the whole apparatus of communications, advertising and social networking can be used to lull us, to make us addicted to consumerism and buying the latest thing on the market. Yet he knew how to use the new communications technology to transmit the Gospel, to communicate values and beauty.”
Despite his extraordinary accomplishments, those who knew Carlo often described him as an ordinary, kind-hearted young man. Father David Ransom of Our Lady of Dolours Church in Sydney, which displays two of Carlo’s hairs as relics, told ABC Radio National’s Soul Search, “He had a great vitality about him … For a young man, it was a very full life.” Carlo gave sleeping bags to the homeless, donated money from his allowance to the poor, and stood up for classmates who were bullied. His mother, Antonia Salzano, told AFP that her son had the gift of seeing that “each person is unique and unrepeatable, originals and not photocopies.”
Tragically, Carlo’s life was cut short in October 2006 when, at just 15, he developed acute promyelocytic leukemia—a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer. He died within a week of his diagnosis, but his impact was immediately evident. Father Ransom recalled, “There was an unexpected crowd of people from all over Milan; basically, the poor and the homeless. It became apparent that Carlo had befriended so many of these people.”
Carlo had expressed a wish to be buried in Assisi, the birthplace of Saint Francis, whose values of poverty, chastity, and obedience he deeply admired. A year after his death, his body was moved to Assisi’s Sanctuary of the Renunciation. Today, his tomb—encased in glass and featuring Carlo dressed in jeans, a jacket, and Nike sneakers—is visited by hundreds of thousands annually. According to BBC, more than a million people have made pilgrimages to Assisi since it was announced that Carlo would be canonised. Remarkably, the tomb is even livestreamed online, allowing people from around the world to pay their respects virtually.
The path to sainthood is rarely swift, often taking decades or centuries. Yet, in Carlo’s case, the process moved with unusual speed. In 2013, the Archdiocese of Milan formally requested his canonisation. Pope Francis declared him venerable in 2018, and two miracles attributed to Carlo were officially recognised by the Vatican. The first involved the healing of a Brazilian child with a pancreatic malformation in 2014, and the second, in 2022, saw a Costa Rican woman recover from a life-threatening bicycle accident. Both cases involved relatives praying for Carlo’s intercession. Carlo’s mother also recounted a woman with breast cancer being healed on the day of his funeral after praying to him.
Carlo was beatified in 2020, and the initial plan was for Pope Francis to canonise him in April 2025 during the Jubilee of Teenagers, a special celebration for young Catholics. However, the Pope’s unexpected death and the ensuing period of mourning led to a postponement. On June 13, Pope Leo XIV announced that Carlo, along with Pier Giorgio Frassati—a young Catholic author and philanthropist—would be the first saints named in his pontificate. The September 7 canonisation thus took on added significance, marking both a new era for the Church and a reaffirmation of its commitment to engaging youth.
For many young Catholics, Carlo’s story is uniquely relatable. He was a teenager who loved video games and wore jeans, yet also found profound meaning in faith and service. As Antonia Pizzey, a lecturer in theology at Australian Catholic University, explained to ABC News, “People who have grown up with the climate crisis, who have grown up with the internet, I think young people see him and they feel a sense of connection with him.”
Carlo’s influence has inspired a wave of creative tributes, from documentaries chronicling his impact on young American Catholics to a Lego short film produced by three Irish teenage brothers. His methods of outreach—combining technology, compassion, and faith—have resonated with a new generation. As Father Ransom put it, “He’s such a wonderful example to young people that even as children or adolescents, it’s possible to draw close to God and to have a heart that’s open to something transcendent.”
Pope Leo XIV, who inherited the cause for Carlo’s sainthood, has also pointed to technology and artificial intelligence as among the main challenges facing humanity. The Church’s embrace of a millennial saint who harnessed the internet for good suggests a willingness to meet those challenges head-on, blending tradition with innovation.
In the end, Carlo Acutis’s canonisation is more than just a recognition of personal holiness—it’s an invitation to see the sacred in the ordinary, to find purpose in the digital age, and to believe, as Carlo did, that faith and modern life can walk hand in hand.
