Father Dave chats with Michael O’Neill, author, host, and creator of the website Miraclehunter.com about Carlo Acutis, an Italian teen on his way to sainthood.
Carlo was a teenager who passed away from Leukemia at the age of 15. While his parents were not especially devout, Carlo always demonstrated a special love for God, the saints, and the Eucharist. Michael describes Carlo’s faith growing up, “After his First Communion, he started to attend Mass every day. From then on, he basically went to Mass almost every day of his life… He had a great understanding of computer programming and graphic design. He built some websites related to Marian apparitions and Eucharistic miracles that are still out there today.”
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Father Dave points out that Carlo’s body was found to be incorrupt today, 14 years after his death. Michael responds, “During the process of canonization, they do what’s called the right of recognition, this is when they open the casket to identify the saint. They found that Carlo’s body is completely intact. When you look at those pictures, this is the most preserved corpse we’ve ever seen in the history of the Catholic Church. It’s more preserved than Bernadette. Of course, it’s only been incorrupt for a short amount of time. But at first glance, it’s remarkable … He is also the first saint to be seen wearing Adidas and a hoodie… The Church wants him to be an inspiration to the youth. This is somebody who people can look at and say, ‘That could be me.’”
Carlo was beatified on October 10, 2020 and is now only one step away from becoming a canonized saint.