The Catholic Church is on track to have its first millennial saint after Pope Frances attributed a second miracle to an Italian teenager and computer whiz known as "God's influencer."
Carlo Acutis, a lay faithful who died from leukemia in 2006 at age 15, used his computer skills to spread awareness of the Catholic faith during his life. Born in London and raised in Milan, Acutis administered his parish website, and later set up a website for the Vatican that documented miracles.
Per reports, Acutis' parents were not religious, but he found his way to the Catholic faith through his nanny. Following his death, the boy's body was displayed in a shrine in the Italian town of Assisi, alongside relics from his life.
Candidates for sainthood must have two miracles attributed to them. Although the Catholic Church holds that only God can perform miracles, saints are believed to reside in heaven alongside God and intercede on behalf of those who pray to them.
Acutis was beatified and deemed "blessed" when he had his first miracle attributed to him in 2020. He is believed to have healed a Brazilian boy with a birth defect in his pancreas.
On Thursday, following a meeting with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, head of the Vatican's Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Pope Francis approved the second miracle attributed to Acutis.
Now that Acutis has two miracles attributed to him, he is eligible to be elevated to sainthood, though the Vatican did not specify when this might happen.
-With reporting from TMX.
