“All people are born as originals but many die as photocopies.”

Carlo Acutis May 3,1991 – 10/12/2006

I love these two quotes:

“All people are born as originals but many die as photocopies.”

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living the life of someone else.”

So, who is Saint Carlo Acutis?

He was inspired by Steve Jobs, former CEO of Apple. The wisdom Jobs shared struck a chord with the young Carlo: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living the life of someone else.” Another piece of wisdom from Steve Jobs resonated with Carlo: “It is only by saying ‘no’ that you can concentrate on the things that are truly important.”

Carlo Acutis was born May 3, 1991, in London, where his father was working and they moved a few months later to Milan, Italy. He was diagnosed with leukemia as a teenager and passed on 10/12/2006 at the age of 15.

Carlo had a special love for God even though his parents weren’t especially devout. As a young child, his nanny would take him to Mass and Carlo loved to pray the rosary. After he made his first Communion, he went to Mass as often as possible at the parish across from his elementary school. Carlo’s love for the Eucharist also inspired a deep conversion for his mother, Andrea Acutis.  She has said, “He used to say, ‘There are queues in front of a concert, in front of a football match, but I don’t see these queues in front of the Blessed Sacrament’

Carlo’s witness of faith as a child led adults to convert and be baptized. Rajesh Mohur, who worked for the Acutis family as an au pair when Carlo was young, converted from Hinduism to Catholicism because of Carlo’s witness. Mohur said that one of the things that most impressed him as a non-Christian was the witness of Carlo’s love and concern for the poor.

Carlo wasn’t afraid to defend Church teaching, even in situations when his classmates disagreed with him. Many of Carlo’s high school classmates remember Carlo giving a passionate defense for the protection of life from the moment of conception when there was a classroom discussion about abortion.

He was known for standing up for kids at school who got bullied, especially kids with disabilities. When a friend’s parents were getting a divorce, Carlo made a special effort to include his friend in the Acutis’ family life. With his friends, he spoke about the importance of going to Mass and confession, human dignity, and chastity.

Carlo was fascinated with computer coding and taught himself some of the basic coding languages, including C and C++. He used his computer skills and internet savvy to help his family put together an exhibition on Eucharistic miracles that has gone on to be displayed at thousands of parishes on five continents. His spiritual director has attested that Carlo was personally convinced that the scientific evidence from Eucharistic miracles would help people to realize that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist and come back to Mass.

His mother recalls that he liked Nintendo Game Boy and GameCube as well as PlayStation and Xbox. He had conversations with his gaming buddies about the importance of going to Mass and confession and limited his video game playing to no more than two hours per week.

Carlo was canonized April 27, 2025. Pope Francis, my he rest in peace, recognized a second miracle attributed to Carlo’s intercession in a decree on May 23, 2024. The miracle involved the healing of a 21-year-old girl from Costa Rica named Valeria Valverde, who was near death after seriously injuring her head in a bicycle accident while studying in Florence in 2022. The first miracle that led to his beatification involved the healing of a 3-year-old boy in Brazil in 2013 who had been diagnosed with a malformation of his pancreas since birth.

On November 20, Pope Francis announced that Blessed Carlo Acutis will be canonized during the Jubilee of Teenagers on April 27, 2025.