“All sorts of people used to come and see Francis, but a new, younger type are coming for Carlo. At a time when society has many problems, he is their compass.”
Acutis has been credited with several miracles since his death from leukaemia in 2006, with Pope Francis formally finding him responsible for two instances of healing.
The computer-savvy teenager built websites for several different Catholic groups and has been described as “devoted” to his faith.
Acutis’ mother Antonia Salzano told the Guardian that the family had never been religious, but Carlo “would go to Mass and do the rosary each day”.
“We lived in the centre of Milan in a building surrounded by beggars. He wanted to help them, speak to them, bring them food and blankets.”
In 2020, he was beatified by Pope Francis in Assisi.
The speed with which Acutis has become a saint has been questioned by some, but Andrea Vreede, a Vatican correspondent for the Netherlands’ NOS News, said it made sense to anoint the teenager.
“The church wants to have a young saint who is a millennial, somebody who belongs to the modern age.”
However, Vreede did suggest the fervour around Acutis’s supposed good looks is slightly questionable.
“There have been questions raised about how appropriate it is for the church to idealise him as a supermodel.”
Pope Leo XIV will also be canonising Pier Giorgio Frassati today, a member of the Dominican Order who died in 1925.
Frassati was actively involved in charity works for the poor up until his death, leaving a significant impact on the community of his hometown, Turin.
The argument for his canonisation was first initiated back in 1932.
