Canonization of British teenager as first millennial saint postponed after Pope’s death

Carlo Acutis printed on a t-shirt in a souvenir shop in Assisi, where his body is on display (Picture: AFP or licensors)

The canonization of a British Italian teenager as the first millennial saint has been postponed due to the Pope’s death.

Carlo Acutis, who died of acute leukemia in 2006 when he was 15, created a website cataloguing more than 100 eucharistic miracles recognised by the Catholic church.

The young web designer started the site in 2004 and worked on it for two and a half years, involving much of his family in the project.

It was unveiled just days before he passed away.

Each miracle on the site was translated into twenty languages and accompanied with images, maps and video.

Around ten years ago a group of priests and friends of Carlo started an initiative to have Carlo sainted.

He was named ‘venerable’ in 2018 after the church recognised his virtuous life, and his body was taken to a shrine in Assisi’s Santuario della Spogliazione.

He was then declared ‘blessed’ in 2020 after the Vatican dicastery, which studies sainthood processes, found the ‘scientifically inexplainable’ recovery of a sick child in Brazil was down to the child touching one of Carlo’s t-shirts.

Carlo died of leukemia in 2006 (Picture: carloacutis.com) A figurine of Carlo on sale in a souvenir shop in Assisi where Acutis is on display (Picture: AFP or licensors)

Last year, the church attributed a second miracle to him – the complete recovery of a Costa Rican student in Italy from major head trauma in a bicycle accident after her mother prayed at Carlo’s tomb.

This paved his way to his canonization, which was supposed to happen next Sunday, but will now be postponed.

His preserved body is currently on display to the public at a church in Assisi.

Carlo was born on May 3, 1991, in London to a wealthy Italian family, and grew up in Milan.

While he enjoyed regular pastimes for someone his age – including video games, time with his friends and hiking – he also taught catechism in a local parish and did outreach to the homeless.

A child looks at the tomb of Carlo in the Shrine of the Stripping of Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Assisi, Italy, earlier this month (Picture: Reuters)

Pope Francis died at the age of 88 on Easter Monday.

He had spent weeks hospital with an infection, pneumonia and difficulty breathing.

But he had recovered enough to give a traditional Easter Sunday blessing from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica after meeting US President JD Vance.

He passed away hours later.

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