Pope clears way for ‘God’s influencer’ to become a saint

As well as designing websites for his parish and school, he became known for launching a website seeking to document every reported Eucharistic miracle, which was launched days before his death.

Mr Acutis’ nickname, God’s influencer, has been attributed to him after his death due to this work.

His website has now been translated into several different languages, and used as the basis for an exhibition which has travelled around the world.

His life is also remembered in the UK, where in 2020, the Archbishop of Birmingham established the Parish of Blessed Carlo Acutis incorporating churches in Wolverhampton and Wombourne

And there is a statue of the soon-to-be-saint in Carfin Grotto, a Roman Catholic shrine in Motherwell.

Miracles are typically investigated and assessed over a period of several months, with a person being eligible for sainthood after they have two to their name.

For something to be deemed a miracle, it typically requires an act seen to be beyond what is possible in nature – such as through the sudden healing of a person deemed to be near-death.

The most recent person to be canonised was Maria Antonia de Paz y Figueroa, also known as Mama Antula, an 18th Century religious sister who became Argentina’s first female saint.