Italian teenage computer wizard set to become the first saint of the Millennial generation
apnews.com
Pope Francis has paved the way for the canonization of the first saint of the millennial generation, attributing a second miracle to a 15-year-old Italian computer whiz who died of leukemia in 2006.

Pope Francis paved the way for the canonization of the first saint of the millennial generation on Thursday, attributing a second miracle to a 15-year-old Italian computer whiz who died of leukemia in 2006.

Carlo Acutis, born on May 3, 1991, in London and then moved with his Italian parents to Milan as a child, was the youngest contemporary person to be beatified by Francis in Assisi in 2020.

Acutis, who died of acute leukemia on Oct. 12, 2006, was put on the road to sainthood after Pope Francis approved the first miracle attributed to him: The healing of a 7-year-old Brazilian boy from a rare pancreatic disorder after coming into contact with an Acutis’ relic, a piece of one of his T-shirts.

According to Vatican News, the second miracle recognized on Thursday is related to a woman from Costa Rica, who in July 2022 made a pilgrimage to Acutis’ tomb in Assisi to pray for the healing of her daughter, who had suffered severe head trauma after falling from her bicycle. The young woman started showing signs of recovery immediately after her mother’s plea.

so the vatican has all of this kids clothes preserved as relics and they cut off pieces of his t-shirts so they can mail them to cancer patients. just imagining like, spongebob, batman, metallica t-shirts being guarded as holy relics in rome for centuries to come.

  • ElGosso [he/him]50•1 month ago

    Why were people praying at his tomb when he wasn't a saint yet? Why did he have a tomb and not just a grave? Lots of weird shit happening here.

    Found this on his wikipedia page:

    Carlo Acutis was born in London, England, on 3 May 1991, to Andrea Acutis and Antonia Salzano, members of wealthy Italian families.[4][6][7][8] The Acutis family had a prominent position in the Italian insurance industry.[9] The Salzanos ran a publishing company.[10] Acutis' maternal great-grandmother was born in the United States and came from a family of landowners in New York.[11]

    So this kid's rich parents made a hefty donation to the church and now he's a saint? Is that how it works?

    • SoyViking [he/him]26•1 month ago

      Is that how it works?

      Some saints were canononized because of genuine religious reasons but rich and powerful people has always been able to lobby the church to get one of their guys canonised, that's why most European countries have a saint who also happens to have been a king.

    • @ssj2marx@lemmy.ml22•1 month ago

      To become a saint you need miracles, to get miracles you need people praying to you, so I would think people praying to a non-saint is business as usual - but usually that's because you were such a well known and respected person in life that people spontaneously built a shrine to you. Sucks that this kid died so young, but was he really on par with St Francis or did his wealthy family pump the numbers?