Today (September 7), St. Peter’s Square will be filled with young people with smartphones, teary eyes, and hearts pounding with faith. Throughout the day, Pope Leo XIV will proclaim Carlo Acutis a saint – the first millennial to ascend to the Catholic altars. His canonization, in St. Peter’s Basilica, is a breath of hope for a generation connected by likes and disillusionments.
Carlo died at 15 years old, in 2006, a victim of fulminant leukemia. His legacy, however, echoes like an eternal click on the internet. He proves that holiness can flourish amid binary codes and illuminated screens. Today’s ceremony is not just a rite; it is an invitation for young people to rediscover faith in a digital world.
Born on May 3, 1991, in London, to wealthy Italian parents, Carlo grew up in Milan. He could have been just a privileged teenager obsessed with video games and soccer. But at three years old, his soul already seemed magnetized by the divine. He asked to enter churches during outings and collected flowers for offerings to the Virgin Mary.
At seven years old, Carlo began attending daily Mass, a habit that converted his mother, Antonia Salzano, who had been distant from the faith until then. “Carlo was a normal boy, but with extraordinary faith,” she recalls, emotional. “He taught me to pray, brought me back to church. His love for Jesus was like a benign virus that infected everyone.”
Carlo loved life. He played soccer, programmed computers, and created websites. His digital genius, however, served evangelization. At 11 years old, he developed a portal cataloging 166 Eucharistic miracles, displayed in more than 10,000 parishes. “The Eucharist is my highway to heaven,” he said, a phrase that echoes like a mantra for young Catholics.
He helped the homeless in Milan, donated his allowance to charity, and limited games to one hour a day, avoiding being “a slave to technology.” On October 12, 2006, Carlo died peacefully, offering his sufferings for Pope Benedict XVI and the Church. “I’m happy to die, because I lived without wasting a minute on things that don’t please God,” he murmured.
The path to holiness in the Catholic Church is meticulous, almost forensic. It begins with the declaration of “Servant of God,” with the diocese investigating the candidate’s life. In 2013, Milan began the inquiry into Carlo, collecting testimonies. In 2018, Pope Francis declared him “Venerable,” recognizing his heroic virtues: faith, hope, charity, prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.
Beatification requires a proven miracle; canonization, a second. Doctors, theologians, and cardinals examine each case, discarding scientific explanations. “It’s like a heavenly court,” explains Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. “We seek irrefutable proof that God acted through the candidate’s intercession.” Carlo’s process was swift, reflecting his modern relevance.
The first miracle, for the 2020 beatification, involved Matheus Vianna, a four-year-old Brazilian child. He suffered from a congenital pancreatic malformation, unable to eat solids. In 2013, in Campo Grande, his grandfather touched a relic of Carlo to the child, asking for healing. Days later, Matheus asked for meat and ate normally. Tests showed a perfect pancreas, without surgery.
“It was as if God had rewritten the genetic code,” said a perplexed doctor. Pope Francis approved the miracle in 2020, and Assisi exploded in joy. The second miracle, for canonization, is even more moving. In July 2022, Valeria Valverde, a 21-year-old Costa Rican, fell off her bicycle in Florence, suffering severe cranial trauma.
Doctors removed part of her skull to relieve pressure. In a coma, her prognosis was grim. Her mother, Liliana, prayed at Carlo’s tomb in Assisi. The next day, Valeria woke up, moved, and said: “I want to get out of bed.” Weeks later, tests revealed inexplicable brain regeneration. “Carlo interceded, turning despair into dance,” Liliana recounted, crying.
The Pope approved the miracle in May 2024. The canonization, postponed by Francisco’s death in April 2025, will take place today. Carlo invites us to reflect: technology, the internet, and social networks are mirrors – they reflect what they are aimed at. They can amplify hate or vanity, but for Carlo, they became windows to the sacred.
“Everyone is born original, but many die as photocopies,” Carlo warned. In an era of algorithms that isolate, he used the web to unite souls, proving that the digital is not the enemy of faith. As Pope Francis said: “Carlo shows us that holiness is possible in today’s world, with its computers and connections.”
There is a poetic link between Carlo and St. Francis of Assisi. Both rest in Assisi, the city of peace. Francis sang to creation; Carlo, to the digitized Eucharist. Antonia Salzano recounts a dream: St. Francis predicted Carlo’s beatification and canonization. “As Francis renounced wealth, Carlo, also from a very wealthy family, renounced materialism and egoism for virtual charity,” says the Bishop of Assisi, Domenico Sorrentino.
I confess, as a journalist, that my education in Catholic schools and university shaped me as a progressive, inspired by Francis of Assisi. I visited his tomb in the 1980s, praying in its simplicity. Later I learned from the Master of ‘Akká that true faith is “to profess with the tongue, believe with the heart, and demonstrate with actions.” Holiness is inner purity and noble action, not a title. He invites us: “Be swift on the path to holiness… if thought aspires to heavenly matters, it becomes holy.” Carlo personified these aspirations. He lived his faith with actions, using technology to unite and elevate.
As young people say, “the saint nailed it.”
Today, the Church will not elevate a distant reliquary, but a close friend. Carlo Acutis, saint at 15, will remind us that eternity does not wait for old age. His legacy is a click that, for those with faith, will vibrate in heaven, inviting us to direct our digital mirrors to our best self, our inner reality.
May his intercession heal our disconnections and make us original again.
Source: www.brasil247.com by Washington Araújo Journalist, writer, and professor. Master in Cinema and psychoanalyst. Researcher of AI and social networks. Hosts the podcast 1844, Spotify.