The Boy Known as “God’s Influencer” Becomes the First Millennial Saint

0:00Today on State of the World, the boy known as God's influencer becomes the first millennial saint. You're listening to State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories, up close, where they're happening. It's Monday, September 8th. I'm Greg Dixon. The Catholic Church has its first saint from the generation that grew up with smartphones and social media. Carlos Acutis was just 15 years old when he died. He's been nicknamed God's Influencer, or Saint of the Internet. He used his technological skills to promote Catholic miracles online, and he was canonized by Pope Leo on Sunday.

0:43NPR's Ruth Sherlock met Acutis' family, and she takes us to the New Saint's tomb in Italy.

0:57Assisi, the Italian hilltop town, has long been a draw for the Catholic faithful.

1:05This woman singing gave up her life in Germany to busk here and feel closer to God. This is a town of religious art and Catholic saints, the birthplace of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Clair, who both founded religious orders. Shops burst with rosaries for worship and mugs with saints' faces.

1:28And now it is also the home to the Catholic Church's first millennial saint.

1:37In this 11th century church of Santa Maria Maggiore, Carlo Acutis' tomb jars with its surroundings of old stone and broken frescoes. His angular casket has been made to look like it's levitating, as if it's ripped off from a rougher stone slab below and now hovers higher up the wall with a bright white light emanating from it. A visitor from the Philippines collects fistfuls of prayer beads from her bag and to bless them, touches them to the glass-panelled side of Okutis' tomb Through the glass you can see the body of Catalog Okutis He's dressed like an ordinary teenager in jeans and sneakers and a hoodie and his face and hands have been reconstructed with silicon So he looks perfectly preserved.

2:31Born in 1991 in London and raised in Milan in Italy, Akutis was just 15 years old when he died of leukaemia in 2006. My friend had a son who was christened in the same baptismal font as Carlo in London. Outside the church, Mary Kavanagh says she's come to his tomb to pray for all young people, and in particular, those who feel lost. I think Karl Lohr, for me, kind of summarises someone who, at such a young age, was so sure of what he believed in. And I think there's so many young people who just get lost, who just don't know who they are, where they're going, what they're for. And I think it's so amazing to see all these young people coming to visit Carlo because I think he's a great inspiration in these times.

3:27It can take hundreds of years to be recognised as a saint. For Acutis, though, it happened so quickly that his parents are still alive. I meet his mother, Antonia Salzano, in the garden of a villa just outside of Assisi. What's it like to be the mother of a saint? Of course, it doesn't mean that the mother is saint, but it's a responsibility. For years now, Salzano has been speaking with journalists, promoting her son and his life. She remembers him as a very advanced child. Three months, first word. Five months, he already was able to speak. And he was also a genius of the computer. By nine years of age, he was learning multiple computer coding languages.

4:09And he was an unusual child, also for his faith. Salzano, who was not particularly religious back then, says her son would ask her, his grandmother or his nanny to take him to church every day. Each day, the mass still dies. Akutis put his technical skills to use to make a website where he catalogued Eucharist miracles. Salzano speaks about Akutis in the present tense. It's clear she still feels close to him and believes he's interceding to help people from beyond the grave, including her. When he died, I was 39 years old. At that age, Salzano thought that perhaps she couldn't have any more children.

4:49But then, aged 43, Acutis came to her in a dream, promising she would be a mother again. A month later, she became pregnant with twins. It was a gift of Carlo because he does a miracle. Each day we receive the news of a miracle. To become a saint, the Vatican says, at least two miracles have to occur after death that can't be explained by science. In Acutis' case, the Vatican cites the recoveries of a four-year-old Brazilian boy with a serious pancreatic malformation and a 21-year-old Costa Rican woman who suffered a bicycle accident. The mother of the young boy and the injured woman had both prayed to Acutis for help.

5:28The miracles, which are the guarantee that comes from God. Domenico Sorrentino is the Archbishop of Assisi, and he says saints are from God. But who becomes a saint is also political. This depends on the strategy of the Church to put in the eyes of the people saints that could speak to our sensitivity. The right saint for the right era. Akutis lived during the rise of the internet, of mobile phones and of social media. And now the Church hopes his canonisation will bring more young people to the faith. Whenever we take the heart relic, thousands come. Monsignor Anthony Figueiredo with the Diocese of Assisi is in charge of the official relic of Acutis.

6:19It's Acutis' pericardium, the heart's protective coat, kept in an ornate case. It's a beautiful gold reliquary with a glass casing so people who come can certainly see, can touch, can kiss the relic as they wish and according to local norms. The relic has been to some 25 different countries in two years. On planes, it is always hand-carried. We would never put a saint in hold. Figueredo says having a modern saint gives people hope. He takes us under his wings, knowing us in this age. And he says in this era, people need hope. Ruth Sherlock, NPR News, Assisi, Italy.

7:14That's the State of the World from NPR. You've clearly found a great podcast, this one. But it can be hard to find your next favorite listen. Well, NPR has a solution for you. It's called the Pod Club Newsletter. Each week you get recommendations right in your inbox. No bots, no algorithms, just real humans sharing podcast episodes they love. Subscribing is free. Go to npr.org slash podcast. Club. Thanks for listening to State of the World.