Influencer for God: 15-year-old 'computer whiz' Carlo Acutis to be beatified on October 10

Venerable Carlo Acutis is set to be beatified, on October 10, in Assisi. Carlo stands as an example of a teenage who used the internet and social media for the greater good. He used his tools to influence people to become closer to God.

Carlo Acutis showed a big interest in Jesus Christ and the Holy Virgin since he was just three-years-old.

Highlights

By Abigail James (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
9/24/2020 (4 years ago)

Published in Living Faith

Keywords: Carlo Acutis, Saint, Beatification, Teenage, Technology, Social Media, Influencer

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "Carlo was able to use social media and especially the internet as an 'influencer' for God," his mother, Antonia Salzano told EWTN.

Carlo was just 15-years-old when he joined the Lord in heaven after dying from leukemia in 2006. As a young teenager, Carlo was a known computer whiz. He taught himself how to program and used his skills to create a website that cataloged the world's Eucharistic miracles. 

Carlo grew up with a deep love for the Eucharist. He grew up in the center of Milan and never missed daily Mass and adoration. According to his mother, Carlo prayed the rosary often and attended confession weekly. 

Carlo had a nurturing and faithful soul, even at the young age of 11. He started helping teach the catechism to other kids and loved helping the poor and homeless.

"Obviously, being a boy of our times, he experienced what all the young people of his generation have - so, computers, video games, football, school, friends..." expressed Antonia, "He [Carlo] managed to transform it into the extraordinary."

According to Carlo's mom, Carlo used the technology as an opportunity to teach other kids how to properly enjoy them.

"Because he understood that they were potentially very harmful, very dangerous, he wanted to be the master of these means, not a slave," she explained, noting he practiced the virtue of temperance and "imposed on himself a maximum of one hour per week to use these means of communication."

"So for Carlo, for sure the first point is to teach young people to have temperance. That is, to understand the need to maintain the proper autonomy and the need to be always able to say 'no, enough,' to not become a slave." 

Carlo understood the importance of technology, but even more so, he understood there needed to be balance. 

Antonia explained, "If someone spends his or her life only following 'influencers,' they might only learn about what outfit to wear and they completely forget about God."

"Certainly today, in a society based a little on the ephemeral, on the exaltation of the self, of the ego, and where one forgets the existence of God, Carlo is certainly very prophetic," Salzano added. "Carlo reminds us of what is most important. The most important thing is to put God in the first place in our life."

Assisi plans on celebrating Carlo Acutis' beatification with more than two weeks of liturgies and events with hopes this will be an evangelizing force for all young people, according to Catholic News Agency.

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"Now more than ever we believe that the example of Carlo -- a brilliant internet user who loved to help the least, the poor and the misfits -- can unleash a driving force for a new evangelizing momentum," Bishop Domenico Sorrentino of Assisi said at the announcement of the schedule of events.

The events begin on Oct. 1, when the tomb of Carlo Acutis will be open for veneration for 17 days. Carlo's beatification ceremony will take place at the Basilica of St. Francis at 4:30 pm on October 10.