CV NEWS FEED // Blessed Carlo Acutis is set to be canonized a saint, now that Pope Francis has approved a second miracle attributed to his intercession.
Acutis was born in England in 1991. He will be the first Millenial to be declared a saint. From a young age, he had a love of Jesus in the Eucharist and attended daily Mass. He was also a talented computer programmer and coder who created a website showcasing Eucharistic miracles from around the world.
In 2006, Acutis died from leukemia, at 15 years old. Pope Francis declared him a Blessed in 2020 after formally recognizing a miracle that took place in 2013 that is attributed to Acutis’ intercession.
Pope Francis has now formally recognized a second miracle attributed to Acutis’ intercession.
On May 23, Pope Francis met with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, and “approved the promulgation of several decrees related to the causes of canonization of several men and women,” including Acutis, Blessed Blessed Giuseppe Allamano, Marie-Léonie Paradis, and Elena Guerra, according to Vatican News. The other men and women recognized in the decrees for causes of canonization include 11 Catholics who were martyred in Syria in 1860.
The second miracle formally attributed to Acutis’ intercession took place in 2022, when Liliana Valverde, a woman from Costa Rico, journeyed to Acutis’ tomb in Assisi to pray for her daughter, Valeria, who, just days before, suffered a traumatic brain injury.
“[Valeria] had suffered severe head trauma, and required craniotomy surgery and the removal of the right occipital bone to reduce pressure on her brain, with what her doctors said was a very low chance of survival,” Vatican News reported.
On July 8, Liliana arrived in Assisi on a pilgrimage to Acutis’ tomb to pray for Valeria.
“That same day, the hospital informed her that Valeria had begun to breath[e] spontaneously. The next day, she began to move and partially regain her speech,” according to Vatican News:
On July 18, a CAT scan proved that her hemorrhage had disappeared, and on August 11, Valeria was moved to rehabilitation therapy. She made quick progress, and on September 2, Valeria and Liliana made another pilgrimage to Assisi to thank Blessed Carlo for his intercession.
The first miracle attributed to Acutis’ intercession took place in 2013, when a 4-year-old boy from Brazil was healed from a rare pancreatic disease. The boy, Mattheus, vomited almost constantly and had difficulty eating. He weighed only 20 pounds, according to Catholic News Agency.
Fr. Marcelo Tenorio, a local priest and friend of Mattheus’ family, had been praying for Acutis’ beatification. He received a relic of Acutis from Acutis’ mother and invited local Catholics to attend a special Mass and prayer service to pray for healing through Acutis’ intercession.
Mattheus and his mother attended the prayer service to ask for healing for Mattheus. His mother also prayed a novena to Acutis leading up to the prayer service.
At the service, Mattheus prayed a singular prayer before a picture of Acutis. Touching the picture, he prayed, “I wish I could stop vomiting so much.”
On the way home from the prayer service, Mattheus expressed a desire to eat fries, steak, and other food. “Once they were home, Mattheus ate the whole dinner and didn’t vomit once. Taken to physicians several days later, Mattheus was found healed of his disease,” CatholicVote previously reported. The Pope formally approved this miracle, attributed to Acutis’ intercession, in 2020.
