Carlo Acutis: A mother's faith clears millennial's path to sainthood

A millennial might be the next saint of the Catholic Church.

Meet Carlo Acutis, an Italian whose brief life was devoted to promoting the Catholic faith online and providing for the poor.

Acutis, who passed away due to leukemia in 2006 at the age of 15, is set to become a saint after the Vatican declared that he had interceded from heaven to save two lives.

In this series, GMA News Online explores the life of Acutis, the miracles credited to his intercession, and the significance of having a millennial saint as a role model for young Catholics worldwide.

SECOND OF THREE PARTS

Pope Francis recently recognized the second miracle attributed to Italian Carlo Acutis, paving the way for the tech-savvy teenager's canonization, which reports say could take place as early as 2025.

The second miracle involved Costa Rican mother Liliana, who prayed at Acutis’ tomb in Assisi, Italy, in 2022, after her daughter Valeria had fallen from her bicycle in Florence, where she was attending university, according to the Vatican News.

Valeria had suffered severe head trauma, and the doctors said that she was not likely to survive. She had to undergo craniotomy surgery and the removal of the right occipital bone to reduce pressure on her brain.

But Liliana had nothing but faith to keep her hopes alive.

FIRST PART: Carlo Acutis: Brazilian boy's healing attributed to 'God's influencer'

THIRD PART: 'A saint of our time': Blessed Carlo Acutis offers relatable holiness in modern times

Liliana visited Acutis' tomb on July 8, 2022, and she left a letter of prayer.

On the same day, Liliana received a call from the hospital that her daughter had begun to breathe spontaneously. The following day, Valeria reportedly began to move and partially regained her speech.

The Vatican News said that a CAT scan “proved that her [Valeria's] hemorrhage had disappeared.”

Valeria started receiving rehabilitation treatment after that, and on September 2, 2022, the mother and daughter traveled to Assisi to thank Acutis for his intercession.

Acutis was beatified in 2020 following the healing of a Brazilian boy from a rare congenital disease in the pancreas in 2013.

Pope Francis earlier said that he would soon convene a Consistory of Cardinals to deliberate the canonization of Acutis, who died of leukemia in 2006 at the age of 15.

Canonization might take decades or even centuries, but in the case of Pope John Paul II, he was declared a saint in April 2014, just less than three years after his beatification in May 2011.

But the one with the quickest route to sainthood was Peter of Verona. On March 9, 1253, just 337 days after his passing, Pope Innocent IV declared him a saint. —VBL, GMA Integrated News