Plans to appoint the first millennial saint proves that young people have not “moved away from faith”, according to one Irish priest. 

Italian Carlo Acutis, a 15-year-old boy who died of leukaemia in 2006, has been flagged by Pope Francis to become a saint – the first millennial to do so. 

Father Paddy Byrne from Abbeyleix, Raheen & Ballinakill said the teenager was known for his “normality, his kindness, his ability to overcome adversity”. 

“In his witness to life, his love of live, he discovered something important,” he told Lunchtime Live.

“I don’t believe young people have turned away from faith, from personal faith. 

“In the context of the world we live in, he used and engaged with social media to promote and cultivate a call to conversion to follow the lord and know God.” 

The Pope has attributed two miracles to Mr Acutis after his death: healing a Brazilian child of a congenital disease affecting his pancreas and the healing of a university student in Florence who had bleeding on the brain after suffering head trauma.

A commissioned statue of Blessed Carlo Acutis, an Italian teenager beatified in 2020, in St Eugene's Cathedral, Derry, Northern Ireland. Image: George Sweeney / Alamy Stock Photo

In his life, Fr Byrne explained, he was dedicated to his websites cataloguing each reported Eucharistic miracle in the world and a list of the approved Marian apparitions. 

He also posted videos online discussing his faith. 

“There was a cult of following after his death because people were inspired by his videos,” Fr Byrne said. 

“People began to recognise there was something special about this guy.” 

Mr Acutis was beatified in 2020 and is now en-route to full sainthood. 

Becoming a saint

Fr Byrne said it is “very unusual” for someone so young to be canonised so soon after his death. 

“Pope Francis is putting him forward as someone who can inspire young people to hope, send a message about keeping going,” he said. 

“It’s very pertinent in a world, culture and society that is often political and we often we become toxic.” 

A person who is appointed to sainthood after death is typically required to have performed two miracles.

Fr Byrne said, however, he is sure there are “many saints” among us. 

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