Rome
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A Italian teenager who loved playing video games and making funny pet movies became the first “millennial” saint of the Catholic Church on Sunday.
Carlo Akotis, who was only 15 when he died of leukemia in 2006, used his computing skills to spread awareness of the Catholic faith and established a website that documents miraculous reports.
Called the “God’s Influencer,” he is considered a pioneer in the Church’s evangelism efforts in the digital world.
The frequently depicted Acutis wearing jeans, t-shirts and sneakers looks very different from the saint of the saint, and he has gained global support among young people as a friendly saint.
His normativeization was carried out along with that of Pia Giorgio Frassatti, another young man who died in 1925 at the age of 24. The St. Manking ceremony was first Lord Side by Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope with thousands of young people in St. Peter’s Square.
A large crowd gathered in Vatican City on Sunday, waving signs and flags depicting photographs of Acquis. The jubilant observer applauded following Pope Leo’s canoeing of the teenagers.
Canonization of youthful saints occurs when the Catholic Church, led by a hierarchy of all males whose senior figures are usually over 60 years old, is exploring new ways to attract the younger generation. Crises involving administrative sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults have had a devastating impact on the credibility of the church.
However, while long-term trends in the West suggest that youth are increasingly liberated with mainstream religions, recent research and anecdotal evidence indicate a growing interest in Catholicism in the US and European Generation Z.
Acutis’ mother, Antonia Salzano, says she believes her son’s life and faith resonates with the generation of young people, especially those who navigate the complexities of the digital world.
“Carlo is a message of hope. Carlo says, “Yes, we need to use (the Internet) forever.” This is why Pope Francis called the influencer of God Carlo,” she told CNN earlier this year in Assisi.
Her son, who knows the “dark side” of the internet, is conscious of the addictiveness of video games, chose to play only on the PlayStation for a week.
“Carlo was all born in originals, and many said they would die as copies,” she said in an interview at Centro Amici di Carlo Acotis, a centre dedicated to her son, set in a peaceful, green environment in Assisi, a town on the hilltop of Umbria.
“Each of us is special, we have a call, a mission. If we don’t realize this mission that God has fought for each of us from eternity, we risk finishing like a copy of someone else.” Her son’s life shows that holiness is possible for everyone, and that “not just some people.”
Acutis was born in London, England to a wealthy family. His father, Andrea Akotis, worked for a bank in the British capital, but when his father became chairman of an Italian insurance company, the young boy lived for much of his life in Milan. His mother says he lived a “normal” life, enjoyed sports and had a sense of humor. Salzano explained that his son had made an interesting “Star Wars” style film with cats and dogs, and explained that he would voice different animals.
However, she said that the son’s strong faith was evident from an early age, despite his failure to grow up in a particularly religious family. He used his pocket money to help homeless people in Milan and stood up for his classmates who were bullied and supported those whose parents were divorced.
“I converted to my son,” Sarzano said. He explained that the influence of early faith in Acquitis was Vida Sparsinska, a Polish nanny.
At his grave in Assisi, he is laid out wearing jeans, Nike sneakers and a casual top, and can be seen live through a webcam.
Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino, bishop of Assisi, told CNN last year that numbers for young natives to visit the church, where they are on display, were “huge” and that he expects to see nearly 1 million visitors last year. He has a global advocate, and in Malvern, Pennsylvania, there is an official shrine for the new saint.
The road to Sainthood in Acutis was very quick. Canoeing, a long and expensive process, can take centuries and requires forensic investigation of the candidate’s life. Usually, the two miracles must be attributed to the intercession of a saint. Evidence of these miracles is examined by various teams of medical professionals and theologians appointed by the Vatican.
Acutis was reportedly beaten (“blessed”) in 2020 after his first miracle and healed a Brazilian boy with a birth defect that he couldn’t normally eat. The boy reportedly was healed after his mother told him he prayed to Acquitis to help his son heal.
The second miracle attributed to Acutis is linked to the reported healing of a Costa Rican girl who suffered a head injury after falling from a bicycle in Florence, Italy, where she was studying. Her mother said she prayed for her daughter’s recovery at the grave of Acquitis in Assisi.
Now that Acutis has been normalized, churches and schools around the world can dedicated them to him.
Despite Acutis’ popular supporters, his canoeing is not without critics. Some people argue that the causes of Acutis are used to promote some “problematic” backward-looking theology.
The Acutis website collated reports of miracles related to the Eucharist to promote the Catholic belief that bread and wine become Christ’s body and blood during Mass (the appearance of bread and wine remains). The Acutis site reported that host incidents (the bread used in the ritual) began to bleed and showed living tissue.
“Young people who are passionate about celebrations of the Eucharist are beautiful,” Andrea Grillo, professor at Pope Athenaeum in Santo Anselmo, Rome, told CNN. “But if he is trying to gather “the miracle of the Eucharist,” he must be on the wrong track and guided in an authoritative way. ”
Grillo said, “Everyone should have been more careful.” He then stated that seeking miracles is “not a virtue.”
“It seems like there’s a desire to guide the church towards a highly problematic dedication and a search for ‘special signs’,” he explained. “The Eucharist is what becomes like a church. Accutis was taught and imposed an old model of spirituality and devotion.”
Twelve months and three months after his death, Akotis’ body was excavated and then placed on a wax cover. It was molded as he was before his burial and was then placed in a glass stone coco at the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Assisi.
A fragment of his heart – a part of the pericardium – has been removed as a relic and is displayed in various churches around the world. The artifact was on display at Church of San Marcello Alcorso during a youth event in Rome at the end of July and early August. The church was full of young people.
“I was born the year he passed away, so I feel like I have a closer connection with him,” Gary Friesen, 19, from Canada, told CNN outside the church at the time.
“He had a lot of passion for the internet, social media, and websites for evangelization. And I have the same hobby as him. On Instagram, I try to spread the gospel as much as I can.”
Outside the same church was Olivia Santarelli, 21, from Vancouver. She told CNN that Acutis’ appeal depends on him being “just like us” and “a normal teenager.”
She said: “He liked sports. He really liked the internet, he really only represents our young people, and we have all these interests, but first and foremost he was yes.”
Antonia Mortensen and Madalena Araujo of CNN contributed to this report.
