Worshippers flock to view preserved body of Brit-born teen dubbed ‘God’s influencer’ and buy merchandise depicting ‘first millennial saint’ ahead of his canonisation next month

Pilgrims have journeyed to the medieval town of Assisi in Italy to view the preserved body of British-born Carlo Acutis ahead of his canonisation as a saint next month.

Acutis, who died aged 15 from leukaemia in 2006, is to become the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint after being credited with miracles since his death.

The London-born teenager was beatified by Pope Francis in 2020, who then granted approval for Acutis’ canonisation last year, scheduled for April 27, 2025.

In keeping with his final wish, Acutis was buried in Assisi, laid to rest at the Sanctuary of the Spoliation in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in April 2019.

His body has been encased in a wax layer molded to look like his body prior to burial, allowing faithful to see Acutis as he lived in his tomb, per Aleteia.

The teenager, affectionately dubbed ‘God’s influencer’, has gathered a global following since his death.

Worshippers were able to purchase souvenirs and mementos of the Blessed Carlo Acutis in a shop in Assisi this week.

Acutis is now to be canonised as a saint during the Church’s Jubilee of Teenagers, between April 25 and April 27, of this year.

The date was announced after a second miracle attributed to his intercession was confirmed in May 2024.

The mother of a Costa Rican woman involved in a serious bike accident had prayed at his glass casket and left a note asking for her to be healed in 2022. 

The same day her daughter began to breathe independently and 10 days later she was discharged from intensive care because the haemorrhage in her brain had disappeared.

The Vatican also said that Acutis interceded from heaven in 2013 to cure a Brazilian boy suffering from a rare pancreatic disease.

Acutis was beatified in Assisi, the home of his idol Saint Francis, who dedicated his life to the care of the poor.

His mother said that her son also dedicated himself to supporting struggling classmates, would defend disabled friends who were being bullied and would take meals out to homeless people across the city.

The 15-year-old died in Monza, Italy in 2006 after moving to Milan as a child. 

He has since been called ‘God’s influencer’ and ‘the patron saint of the internet’ because of his devotion to promoting his religious beliefs online before he died.

To become a saint, there is usually first a five-year wait for the process to begin. This allows for a period of reflection.

The bishop of the diocese where the person has died then investigates whether their life was holy enough to be deemed a ‘servant of God’. 

Before his death, Acutis set up a website named, ‘The Eucharistic Miracles of the World’ and enjoyed researching different miracles for the site. 

The website says it ‘aimed at confirming faith in the real presence of the body and blood of the Lord in the Eucharist’. 

His mother told The Times: ‘He was a computer genius, so this probably makes him very close to the people of nowadays.

‘He was living the same lives as them, he liked to play video games, use the internet, liked football.’

The teenager also helped the homeless and stood up for bullied classmates at school.

The Congregation for the Causes of Saints then looks at the case. If they approve it is passed onto the Pope, who declares the subject a person of ‘heroic virtue’. 

In July 2018, Pope Francis named him venerable, which helped him achieve the third of five stages towards becoming a saint.

For beatification, a miracle needs to happen to a person who has prayed to the person in question.

The person may then be canonised if a second miracle can be attributed to them.

Carlo would be only the second Briton to become canonised in nearly 50 years, after Cardinal John Henry Newman was made a Saint in 2019.

He was the first since October 25, 1970, when a large number of British martyrs were canonised at the same time by Pope Paul VI.