Pope Francis beatified an Italian 15-year-old hailed as the “patron saint of the internet” on Saturday in Assisi, Italy. Carlo Acutis studied coding in elementary school to create a website chronicling miracles, built websites for local churches, and converted his own mother to Catholicism before dying of leukemia in 2006. Cardinal Agostino Vallini said in a homily, “Carlo used the internet in service of the Gospel to reach as many people as possible.” Acutis is among the youngest people to be beatified in modern times. After Acutis’ death, a Brazilian 7-year-old came into contact with one of the Italian teen’s t-shirts and later beat a rare pancreatic illness. Pope Francis declared the recovery a miracle. Beatification, the first step towards the elevation to Catholic sainthood, requires that at least one miracle be attributed to the individual. The St. Francis Basilica will display his heart in a reliquary.
