The Vatican has delivered a major announcement on the status of a Brit teen’s sainthood following the Pope’s death.
The late Pope Francis I was due to give a Sainthood to Carlo Acutis, a British born Italian man who lived much of his life in Italy, later this month. Carlo, who was 15 when he died in 2006 of Leukaemia, had spent most of his life in Milan, Italy, but was born in London. He was going to receive his Sainthood on April 27, having dedicated most of his short life to church, and to the less fortunate. He received his first communion at the age of seven, and would regularly donate his money to the poor as a child.
When he became old enough, he spent his evenings cooking meals and delivering them to the homeless. His body has been preserved for the last 19 years ahead of his official Saint induction next week, but the plans have now been postponed following the death of Pope Francis.
A spokesperson for the Vatican said in a statement this afternoon that the Canonization has been postponed. They said: “Following the death of the Sovereign Pontiff Francis, we inform you that the Eucharistic Celebration and Rite of Canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis… has been postponed.”
The Vatican did not immediately provide a potential replacement day for the Canonization. Several vital Catholic Church functions are typically shuttered in the wake of a Pope’s death, with the central figure responsible for personally administering a selection of church-given honours.
Carlo’s Canonization has been in the works for nearly decades since his death, with Vatican officials concluding several years after he died that he was responsible for helping a Brazilian boy recover from a deadly disease.
The teen, who earned the moniker “God’s influencer” thanks to his keen interest in technology – which he used to spread the word of Catholicism and help digitise some of the operations of his local church – set up the website “Eucharistic Miracles of the World”, which he used to document miracles said to have occurred during the Eurcharist before he died.
Years later, when two-year-old Brazilian Matheus Vianna was diagnosed with congenital disorder annular pancreas, his mother turned to the church for help. She received guidance from Father Marcelo Tenorio, then supporting Carlo’s beautification – the stage of blessing before Canonization – and started praying for the late teen.
Father Tenorio touched a piece of Carlo’s clothing to the toddler, and asked for him to be healed, after which Matheus’ family said he never vomited again and started eating solid food – having been previously limited to a liquid only diet.