Introduction to Carlo Acutis
At a Catholic school in Pope Leo XIV’s hometown, fifth graders read comic books about Carlo Acutis’ life titled Digital Disciple. They draw pictures of what the teenage Italian computer whiz might have had as his cell phone wallpaper. They discuss the miracles that allegedly occurred thanks to Acutis’ intercession.
In the lead-up to Acutis’ canonization on Sunday, it’s all Acutis, all the time at the Blessed Carlo Acutis Parish and school in Chicago. The parish was the first in the United States to take its name from Acutis, who died in 2006 at age 15 and is about to become history’s first millennial saint.
In recent years, Acutis has shot to near rock star-like fame among many young Catholics, generating a global following the likes of which the Catholic Church hasn’t seen in ages. Much of that popularity is thanks to a concerted campaign by the Vatican to give the next generation of faithful a relatable, modern-day role model, an ordinary kid who used his technological talents to spread the faith.
He’s not a towering world figure like Mother Teresa or St. John Paul II, but rather a “saint next door,” said the Rev. Ed Howe, the pastor at Blessed Carlo Acutis Parish in Chicago’s Northwest Side.
Pope Leo XIV’s First Canonization
Leo, a Chicago native, will declare Acutis a saint on Sunday in his first canonization ceremony, alongside another popular Italian, Pier Giorgio Frassati, who also died young. Both ceremonies had been scheduled for earlier this year, but were postponed following Pope Francis’ death in April.
It was Francis who had fervently willed the Acutis sainthood case forward, convinced that the church needed someone like him to attract young Catholics to the faith while addressing the promises and perils of the digital age.
Acutis was precociously savvy with computers long before the social media era, reading college-level textbooks on programming and coding as a youngster and making websites that at the time were the domain of professionals. But he limited himself to an hour of video games a week, apparently deciding long before TikTok that human relationships were far more important than virtual ones.
Fifth grade students Paulie Alfirevich (from left), Paige Lange and Alex Miller read a comic book about the life of Carlo Acutis, who will be canonized a saint by Pope Leo XIV, during a class activity at St. John Berchmans school on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025, in Chicago.
Jessie Wardarski / AP
A Fast-Track to Sainthood
Acutis was born on May 3, 1991, in London to a wealthy but not particularly observant Catholic family. They moved back to Milan soon after he was born and he enjoyed a typical, happy childhood, albeit marked by his increasingly intense religious devotion.
In October 2006, at age 15, he fell ill with what was quickly diagnosed as acute leukemia. Within days, he was dead. He was entombed in Assisi, which known for its association with another popular saint, St. Francis.
In a remarkably quick process, Acutis was beatified in 2020, and last year Francis approved the second miracle needed for him to be made a saint.
The Ordinary and the Extraordinary
For his admirers, Acutis was an ordinary kid who did extraordinary things, a typical Milan teen who went to school, played soccer and loved animals. But he also brought food to the poor, attended Mass daily and got his less-than-devout parents back to church.
“When I read his story for the first time, it was just like shocking to me, because from a very early age, he was just really drawn to Jesus Christ and he would go to Mass all the time,” said Sona Harrison, an eighth grader at the St. John Berchmans school, which is part of the Acutis parish. “I feel like he’s a lot more relatable, and I definitely feel like I’m closer to God when I read about him.”
Souvenirs of Carlo Acutis, the 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and was beatified in 2020, are displayed in a shop in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025.
Alessandra
