Assisi, Italy:
Carlo Acutis, an Italian boy who has built websites in British in British, will be named the first saint of the Catholic Church of the Millennial generation this month, which will be taken to the same level as mother Teresa and Francis of Assisi.
There is no doubt that he was special, his mother Antonia Salzano Acutis told Reuters. But in many ways, she said, he was like any other teenager.
Acutis, who learned various computer coder languages and developed websites for his parish and the wider church, died of leukemia of 15 years in 2006.
As his reputation for dedication grew and he was moved along the official path to Sainthood, his body was moved to the hill city of Assisi in Central Italy, in line with his last wishes.
There he was buried with a wax form of his similarity about his body, with his loop top, jeans and trainers. Since then, crowds have gathered with the clear -sided box.
Tens of thousands of more is expected to attend the Cannization Service on St. Peter's Square on 27 April. Vatican officials hope that Pope Francis, who is still recovering from a serious attack of double pneumonia, will chair.
But, away from all the ceremony and worship, the heart of his attraction was that he lived the same life as others who were teenagers in the 2000s, who had difficulty fit at school, his mother said.
“Carlo was an ordinary child like (others). He used to play, to have friends and go to school. But his extraordinary quality was that he opened the door of his heart before Jesus and placed Jesus in the first place in his life.”
“He used this skill to spread the good news, the gospel,” she added. “He wanted to help people to have more confidence, to understand that there is an hereafter that we are (pilgrims) in this world.”
She said her son was dedicated to help people in need. He asked his parents to donate to the poor.
“He was very serious with himself … If I wanted to buy two pairs of shoes, he said, no, one is enough.”
Miracles
The reputation of Acutis continued to grow with the recording of miracles that reported after his death and attributed to his intercession with God.
Church officials say that there was the healing of a 4-year-old Brazilian boy with a severe malformation of pancreas and a 21-year-old Costa Rican woman who was almost dead after a bicycle accident.
The mothers of the boy and the wife both had prayed for Acutis for help, the Vatican authorities said.
“The world is (shows) great interest in this young man,” said Bishop Domenico Sorrentino, who leads the Catholic diocese of Assisi. “I think that starts with his smile.”
“If we are really convinced that we are saved (through) Jesus, we must be happy, must be happy,” Sorrentino told Reuters. “Acutis succeeds in giving … young people this image of the true Christian image.”
Acutis remains – described as parts of his clothing and even his body – started to pop up online, some of them for sale on auction sites, including eBay.
Sorrentino denounced the sale as “terrible” and said he asked the police to confiscate the stated items.
Catholics use such relics as assistants in prayer. Their sale is forbidden by the church.
In Assisi, young believers said they had started seeing Acutis for themselves, looking for inspiration and an example.
“I felt great emotion in seeing a boy younger than I lived a happy life … despite his illness,” said Emanuele Iaquaniello, an 18-year-old from Frosinone, a city southeast of Rome.
“He was certainly an example and a symbol of power for all people, not just teenagers.”
Lorenzo Dalia, also 18 and from Monte San Giovanni Campano, said he was moved to see the grave of a colleague teenager who will become a saint. “I was dumbfounded at this age and was seeing so great confidence,” he said.
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