Computer geek Carlo Acutis will become the first Italian millennial teen to have the "blessing" of the Roman Catholic Church after he was beatified in a Mass at the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi on Saturday in Assisi, Italy.
The 15-year-old is the youngest present-day individual to be beatified, a passage embarked on by two Portuguese shepherd children in the early 1900s who were declared Catholic saints in 2017.
Acutis - who was born in London on May 3, 1991 to Italian parents and moved to Milan as a boy - devoted his life sharing the faith on the internet before he perished of leukemia in 2006. He now moves closer to being proclaimed a saint with his beatification in the town of Assisi, where he is buried.
At the beatification ceremony, a portrait of Acutis was unveiled, showing a smiling teenager in a red shirt, with a halo illuminating his curly dark hair. Cardinal Agostino Vallini kissed each of the teen's parents, who were wearing face coverings, after reading the proclamation ordained by Pope Francis. Churches throughout Assisi also offered extra hours of religious devotion in honor of Acutis' blessing.
In his homily, Vallini said since Acutis was a child, "he had his gaze turned to Jesus... love for the Eucharist was the foundation that kept alive his relationship with God," Grandin Media quoted the cardinal as saying.
The boy's heart, which now serves as a relic, was placed near the church's altar. October 12 has been declared by Pope Francis as Acutis' Feast Day, in memory of his death. Valilini praised Acutis for using the internet "in the service of the Gospel and reach as many people as possible," during his homily.
The teen's beatification gathered around 3,000 people to Assisi, including people who personally knew Acutis and many other young individuals who have been inspired by his good deeds. Acutis was pronounced "venerable" after Pope Francis acknowledged a miracle involving the healing of a 7-year-old Brazilian boy who was sick with a rare illness.
Twenty-eight year-old childhood friend Mattia Pastorelli said having a friend "who's about to become a saint is a very strange emotion... now I realize just how special he was," Grandin Media quoted Pastorelli as saying.
Already considered as the "Patron saint of the internet," Acutis launched a web portal to chronicle Eucharistic miracles and managed websites for some local church groups. While still in elementary, he learned to program using a university computer science textbook, and taught himself video editing and animation.
