Beatification date set for computer programming teen Carlo Acutis

Rome, Italy, Jun 13, 2020 / 08:38 am

Venerable Carlo Acutis, an Italian teenager and computer programmer who died in 2006, will be beatified October 10 in Assisi, Italy. 

"The joy we have long awaited finally has a date," Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino of Assisi said in a statement June 13.

The beatification will take place in Assisi at 4 p.m. at the Basilica of Saint Francis. It will be chaired by Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who is prefect for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. 

Acutis is currently buried in Assisi's Church of St. Mary Major.

Acutis, who died of leukemia at the age of 15, offered his suffering for the pope and for the Church. He was born in London on May 3, 1991 to Italian parents who soon returned to Milan. He was a pious child, attending daily Mass, frequently praying the rosary, and making weekly confessions.

In May 2019, Acutis' mother, Antonia Salzano, told CNA Newsroom: "Jesus was the center of his day." She said that priests and nuns would tell her that they could tell that the Lord had a special plan for her son.

"Carlo really had Jesus in his heart, really the pureness … When you are really pure of heart, you really touch people's hearts," she said.

The date for the beatification was announced the same week as the feast of Corpus Christi. Acutis had a great devotion to the Eucharist and Eucharistic miracles. 

"It is beautiful that this news comes as we prepare for the feast of Corpus Christi," Archbishop Sorrentino said. "Young Carlo distinguished himself with his love for the Eucharist, which defined his highway to heaven." 

The miracle that paved the way for Acutis' beatification involved the healing of a Brazilian child suffering from a rare congenital anatomic anomaly of the pancreas in 2013. The Medical Council of the Congregation for Saints' Causes gave a positive opinion of the miracle last November, and Pope Francis approved the miracle in February. 

Acutis was exceptionally gifted with computers. In Christus vivit, the apostolic exhortation published after the 2018 Synod of Bishops on young people, Pope Francis offered Acutis as a model of holiness in a digital age.

"The news constitutes a ray of light in this period in which our country is struggling with a difficult health, social and work situation," Sorrentino said.

"In these recent months of solitude and distancing, we have been experiencing the most positive aspect of the internet - a communication technology for which Carlo had a special talent."

"The love of God can turn a great crisis into a great grace."