A priest has discovered an eye-opening link between a British-born teenager set to be canonized – and the newly-elected Pope.
Carlo Acutis, known as ‘God’s influencer’, will become the Catholic Church’s first millennial to be appointed as a saint at a date yet to be confirmed.
The London-born ‘techie’ teen – born in 1991 to an Italian mother and half Italian, half English father – died in 2006 from leukaemia.
Since then he has received worldwide acclaim for his religious devotion and the attribution of miracles since his tragic passing.
But now Father David Michael Moses of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston has noticed a startling connection the late teenager and Pope Leo XIV, ChurchPop reported.
Speaking on his podcast, Father Moses said he was struck by the fact Acutis attended the Leo XIII Institute in Milan, Italy – which was named after the very pope that inspired the new papal leader to choose his name.
Father Moses explained: ‘Well—and this was the big discovery I made when I looked through some of these notes—guess the name of the high school that Blessed Carlo Acutis went to? It’s called the Leo XIII Institute.
‘I mean, guys, come on. How cool is that?
A priest has discovered an eye-opening link between British-born teenager Carlo Acutis, who is set to be canonized – and the newly-elected Pope Leo XIV
Father David Michael Moses said he was struck by the fact Acutis attended the Leo XIII Institute in Milan, Italy – which was named after the very pope that inspired the new papal leader Leo IV to choose his name
Acutis, who died of leukaemia in 2006 aged 15 and was informally known as ‘God’s influencer’, is set to become a saint
‘He died really young—he was 15—so he never went to college. He didn’t go to that many schools.
‘What are the chances that the school that he’s attending when he dies was named after Pope Leo XIII, the predecessor of our new Pope Leo XIV, the pope that Leo XIV says inspired him to choose the name? What are the chances? How cool is that?
‘We are on a Leo tear right now in the Church.’
Researching further, Father Moses then realised the significance of a spiritual request the teenager made before his passing.
He explained: ‘If that wasn’t enough, listen to this quote from Blessed Carlo Acutis.
‘He says this: “I offer all the suffering I will have to suffer for the Lord, for the Pope, and for the Church.”
‘Blessed Carlo, the first millennial saint about to be canonized, offered his suffering in large part for the pope.
‘And now we have a pope who chooses the name of Blessed Carlo’s high school patron. So cool. Love that.’
Acutis, who died aged 15, would be the second Briton to be canonised in nearly 50 years
Acutis spent most of his life in Milan and his family visited Assisi every year around Easter, as it was his favourite place. It is also where he asked to be buried after dying from leukemia in 2006 and now lies in rest.
He spent much of his spare time designing an online exhibition about Eucharistic miracles around the world.
Due to his proficiency with computers, he has been referred to as a ‘saint of the ordinary,’ and also a possible patron saint for IT workers.
Acutis was nominated for sainthood after a series of miracles were attributed to him.
In 2020, the late Pope Francis recognised the healing of a young boy in Brazil from a rare form of pancreatic cancer attributed to Acutis.
Shortly after, he was beatified which is the first step towards sainthood.
Then in 2024, Pope Francis recognised a second miracle – the healing of a student in Florence who had a bleed on the brain.
The Pope called him a role model for young people who are frequently tempted by ‘self-absorption, isolation and empty pleasure.’
Acutis’s parents, Antonia (front) and Andrea (rear) are greeted by Cardinal Agostino Vallini during the beatification ceremony in Assisi, central Italy, in October 2020
An image of 15-year-old Carlo Acutis is seen during his beatification ceremony celebrated by Cardinal Agostino Vallini in the St Francis Basilica, in Assisi, Italy, in October 2020
The Pope said: ‘Carlo was well-aware that the whole apparatus of communications, advertising and social networking can be used to lull us, to make us addicted to consumerism and buying the latest thing on the market, obsessed with our free time, caught up in negativity,’ Crux reported.
His mother Antonia Salzano previously said that she now refers to her late son as her ‘saviour’ as he taught her more and more about his faith and credits him with her conversion into Christianity.
He grew up in Milan where he took care of his parish website and later that of a Vatican-based academy.
From the age of three, he would donate his pocket money to the poor and later at school supported victims of bullying, while he spent his evenings cooking and delivering meals to the homeless.
He told his parents in his final words: ‘I die happy because I didn’t spend any minutes of my life in things God doesn’t love.’
Even after his death, the youngster, informally known as ‘God’s influencer’, was performing miracles, supposedly healing a critically ill child and a brain bleed victim in 2012 and 2022.
He was raised by first an Irish nanny then a Polish one. They claim he was inspired in part by St Francis of Assisi, who was born in the same town Acutis was laid to rest.
Remarking over her late son, Ms Salzano told the Times: ‘Sometimes these beautiful [saints] are all very old and used to live in a very different world so young people don’t feel so close to them.
‘Carlo was young and handsome and always smiling and was a computer genius and would play on his PlayStation and Game Boy.
Acutis is pictured as a young boy waving to the camera as he enjoys a holiday in the snow
Acutis (pictured) was a devout Christian from a very young age and attended daily mass
Acutis (pictured) grew up in Milan where he took care of his parish website and later of a Vatican-based academy
‘To have a saint that played with the same things as you do is something that really touches these young people.’
Ms Salzano said her son had a ‘special relationship’ with God from an early age, even though her family was not religious.
She told Shalom Tidings that she had only ever been to mass three times before Acutis began dragging her to church at the age of three and a half.
He was raised by first an Irish nanny then a Polish one. They claim he was inspired in part by St Francis of Assisi, who was born in the same town he was laid to rest
He also helped the homeless and stood up for bullied classmates at school. Pictured: Young Acutis with his dog at Christmas
His mother Antonia Salzano (pictured) refers to her late son as her ‘saviour’
Around the same time he began asking questions about his faith and engaging in practices she had never heard of including honouring existing saints, leaving flowers at shrines, and spending hours in church.
The youngster even limited himself to one hour of video games each day so that he could devote more time to his religion. ‘Every minute wasted is one less minute to glorify God,’ his mother said.
Since his death, he has garnered a global following, and his body was moved to the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, Assisi where it is currently on display.
In the UK, he has been remembered by the Archbishop of Birmingham, who in 2020 established the Parish of Blessed Carlo Acutis with churches in Wolverhampton and Wombourne.
