Teen Computer Genius, Who Died At 15, To Become 1st “Millennial Saint” of Catholic Church

A UK-born teenager, who died at the age of 15 in 2006 from leukemia, will be the first “millennial saint” of the Catholic Church.

This teenager named Carlos Acutis was born in 1991 in London. He was a computer prodigy who developed websites for online spread of the church’s teachings. Now he is popularly known as “God’s influencer”.

He died in Italy in 2006, where he lived with his parents.

The 15-year-old was put on the path of sainthood after a seven-year-old Brazilian boy was reported to have recovered from a rare pancreatic disease after he touched one of Acutis’s t-shirts and a priest prayed to him on behalf of the child.

The recovery was deemed miraculous after it was assessed and approved by the Pope. In Catholicism, a person is qualified to be a saint if two miracles are attributed to them and approved by the Pope.

On Thursday, Pope Francis approved the second miracle attributed to Acutis, qualifying the teenager for canonisation.

A university student in Florence who suffered a brain bleed after a bicycle accident and was in a critical condition, reportedly recovered when her mother prayed for her recovery at the tomb of Acutis.

Acutis is the only person who was born in the 1990s to be canonised. The last person to be canonised by Pope Francis was born in 1926.

From childhood, Acutis showed signs of religious devotion. The teen learnt to code in order to build websites for Catholic organizations including one that documents all the miracles witnessed around the globe.