London-born teen to become the first millennial saint

Carlo Acutis died of leukaemia at the age of 15 in 2006

A teenager born in London is set to become the first millennial to be made a saint, in a move from the Vatican that will likely inspire more youngsters to follow the Catholic faith.

Carlo Acutis, who died of leukaemia at the age of 15 in 2006, was given the name ‘God’s influencer’ for spreading the teachings of the Catholic church online.

After his death, his mother said that people from all over the world had told her about medical phenomenon after preying to her son.

Pope Francis has now cleared the way for the teenager to become the very first millennial saint – someone born in the early 1980s to late 1990s – by attributing a second miracle to him.

Pope Francis blesses the crowd as he presides over the Easter Mass at St Peter’s square in the Vatican on March 31, 2024 (Picture: AFP)

Carlos rose to fame after a boy from Brazil was ‘cured’ of a birth defect, which had left him unable to keep down his food, after touching his relic.

For this, he had been beatified – the first step towards sainthood – back in 2020, in a ceremony in an Italian basilica that looked straight out of the dark ages.

His second miracle was approved by the Pope after a meeting with the Vatican’s saint-making department.

The second involved a 21-year-old woman from Costa Rica who was studying in Italy was ‘healed’ after suffering a head trauma in a cycling crash, according to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

She had needed major brain surgery, and doctors warned survival rates were low.

Her mother traveled to Assisi to pray for her daughter at Carlo’s grave and that same day, she started to breathe on her own and by the following day was able to move her arms and to speak again. 

The student was discharged from intensive care just 10 days after her mother’s pilgrimage.

The Vatican confirmed that Carlos will be cannonised, but did not share further details about when the ceremony will happen.

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