Who was Carlo Acutis ?

 

His story is pretty out-of-the-ordinary. In the early 2000s, a young boy who was good-looking, intelligent, and rich was seized with a passion for Heaven. He put his multiple talents in service of this passion, all whilst remaining a normal boy of his time who loved animals, Pokémon, video-games, detective films and general knowledge game shows on the television.

He was the witness of God’s love to numerous people around him, starting with his own family, and he was always very attentive to the poor.

At the age of 7yrs old, he was already going to daily Mass. At 13yrs old, he put together an exposition on recognised miracles taking place during Mass, and it’s still going round the world today. He used his incredible knowledge of IT to announce the Gospel using the Internet.

At a very early age, Carlo sought purity of heart, because he wanted to be ready to meet God. It’s almost as if he’d had a premonition of dying young. His parents said he used to cover his eyes with his hands when bad things came on television. He regularly warned his friends against pornographic websites. The boys and girls who knew him, unanimously testify to his purity.    

In October 2006, at only 15yrs old, this boy died from acute Leukaemia. During his funeral Mass, to the great surprise of his parents, the church was completely full and there was a crowd outside, who couldn’t fit in. A woman suffering from breast cancer was healed during the Mass. His reputation of holiness spread. A committee was established which included the parish priest, priests from his school and others, to ask that the cause for his canonisation to be opened.

The diocesan cause opened in 2013. In July 2018, Pope Francis declared this young man ‘Venerable’, the first step towards beatification (1). In March 2019, he also spoke about Carlo to the youth, giving him as an example concerning his use of the internet. And finally, Carlo was beatified on October 10th, 2020.

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