St. Carlo Acutis: Digital Witness for the Youth of Our Days

St. Carlo Acutis: Digital Witness for the Youth of Our Days

There is a story being told in our time.
It is not about an explorer who conquered the seven seas,
not about a general who commanded large and powerful armies,
not about a celebrity with millions of followers.
It is about a boy in jeans and sneakers,
whose greatness was found simply in love, in faith, and in a laptop.

That boy was Carlo Acutis,
canonized in Rome this week by Pope Leo XIV.

The Friend of Jesus

Carlo was an ordinary teenager.
He played soccer, loved video games, and laughed with friends.
But he was also devoted to Jesus.
He never missed daily Mass.
He prayed the Rosary.
He said: “The Eucharist is my highway to heaven.”

The Mission

Carlo noticed something missing in the Church of his time:
many people no longer believed that God was really present in the Eucharist.
So, with his skills as a young computer coder,
he built a website to tell the world about Eucharistic miracles.
It became his mission—his way of preaching the Gospel.

Some used the internet for fame.
Others used it for money.
A few used it for corruption and harm.
Carlo used it for God.
And so they began to call him “God’s Influencer.”

A Short Life

At fifteen, Carlo was diagnosed with leukemia.
He knew he would not live long.
Yet he said with courage:
“I am happy to die, because I have not wasted a minute on things that do not please God.”

He died in 2006.
He was buried in jeans and a sweatshirt.
Not robed like a bishop.
Not armored like a knight.
But dressed as an ordinary teenager—
because God’s presence can shine through ordinary clothes.

The Tomb in Assisi

Today, pilgrims travel from every corner of the world to pray at Carlo’s tomb.
He rests in Assisi, still dressed in jeans, sneakers, and a sweatshirt.
Not as a statue, but as he was.
Visitors kneel before the glass case, whispering prayers, leaving notes, finding courage.

The Church did not proclaim him incorrupt.
What they proclaimed was greater:
that God’s love shines even through fragile bodies,
and that a teenager of our century can reveal holiness.

The Sign of God

From Brazil to Costa Rica, people prayed through Carlo’s intercession.
And the sick were healed.
Two miracles were approved.
The Church listened and declared:

This young man,
this coder of miracles,
this teenager of faith,
is a saint.

On September 7, 2025, the pope raised him as a saint.
The first millennial saint.
A patron for our digital age.

Yet the greater miracle may be this:
that his simple life still awakens faith in the young,
and calls us to find God in our own ordinary days.

The Lesson for Us

We do not all build websites that circle the globe.
We do not all suffer sickness at fifteen.
We do not all die young.

But we do face choices.
We do live in a digital world.
We do long for God in ordinary days.

Carlo shows us that God’s presence is never far away.
That holiness belongs not only in churches,
but also in classrooms, on soccer fields, and even online.
That the sacred can be hidden in keyboards and screens
as surely as in pulpits and choirs.

So we are invited to ask...
If holiness met Carlo in soccer games and computer coding,
where might it meet you—
in your friendships, your studies, your scrolling?

Carlo teaches us this truth: that a teenager with a laptop and a heart on fire for Christ can change the world.

A Catholic School Prayer to St. Carlo:

Saint Carlo, light of the millennial generation,
cast your gentle glow upon our hearts and screens.
In a world awash with noise and distraction,
help us to use technology as you did—
to connect, to evangelize, to bring souls closer to Christ.
May your love for the Eucharist inspire our worship,
your devotion to Mary guide our prayers,
and your service to the poor shape our compassion.
Grant us the grace to live each click and keystroke
as an act of love for God and neighbor.
Amen.

The Official Catholic Prayer to St. Carlo Acutis:

Oh God, our Father, thank you for giving us Carlo,
a life example for the young and a message of love for everyone.
You made him become enamoured with Your Son Jesus,
making of the Eucharist his “Highway to Heaven.”
You gave him Mary as a most loving Mother,
and, with the Rosary, you made him a poet of her tenderness.

Receive his prayer for us.
Above all, gaze upon the poor, whom he loved and helped.
Grant for me too, by his intercession, the grace that I need …
And make our joy fulfilled, placing Carlo among the Saints of your Church,
so that his smile may shine again for us in the glory of your name.
Amen.