THE LIFE AND WITNESS OF ST CARLO ACUTIS

Fr Billy Swan

In July 2024, I took my summer holidays in the beautiful Italian town of Assisi, home to Saints Francis and Clare, the 13^th century saints whose tombs were a mere 10 minute walk from where I was staying. Yet even closer to me, about 5 minutes on foot, was the presence of another Blessed whose remains rest in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore also known as the Church of the Renunciation. Here marks the place of St Francis’ renunciation of his father’s inheritance, to commit himself to a life of radical poverty and total consecration to God. I speak of Blessed Carlo Acutis – a young Italian boy who died aged 15 from leukemia and who will become the first millennial saint in Jubilee year of 2025. So, who is Carlo Acutis and why is he a role model for young people today?

Carlo Acutis was born in London of Italian parents on 3^rd May 1991. A few weeks later on 18^th May, he was baptised in Our Lady of Dolours Church in the South-West of the city. Because of work reasons, the Acutis family moved back shortly afterwards to Italy, settling in Milan. The young Carlos settled into his new school quite well and rather than waiting for friends to come to him, he is remembered for being a friend to all. In 2005, he began studies at a new school, run by the Jesuits. During this time, Carlo showed himself skilled in all things to do with information technology, computers and the internet. He was inspired by none other than the late Steve Jobs, former CEO of Apple. The wisdom Jobs shared struck a chord with the young Carlos: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living the life of someone else…I’m not interested in being the richest man in the cemetery…Going to bed at night and saying we’ve done something fantastic…this interests me”. Another piece of wisdom from Steve Jobs resonated with Carlos: “It is only by saying ‘no’ that you can concentrate on the things that are truly important”.

It might seem odd that Jobs’ words “Your time is limited” would have a profound impact on a teenager with his whole life ahead of him. Yet, somehow those words anticipated the length of Carlo’s life. Soon after, Carlo shared with a friend a premonition he had that his life would indeed be short. Jobs’ warning not to live the life of someone else or live another’s expectations also impacted strongly on him. In fact, he re-phrased this wisdom in his own way using the memorable analogy of a photocopy: “All people are born as originals but many die as photocopies”. Here Carlo warns against the slavery of conformity but not in the modern sense of being radically individualistic. Rather he understands that God has made each of us unique and that each of us need to seek out and discern the vocation the Lord has entrusted to each of us within the family of the Church, and how that individual uniqueness contributes to the harmony of the whole. Such was the impact of these words that Pope Francis included them in his Apostolic Exhortation ‘Christ is Alive’ that he addressed to young people. Speaking of Carlo, Francis said:

“He saw that many young people, wanting to be different, really end up being like everyone else, running after whatever the powerful set before them with the mechanisms of consumerism and distraction. In this way they do not bring forth the gifts the Lord has given them; they do not offer the world those unique personal talents that God has given to each of them. As a result, Carlo said, ‘everyone is born as an original, but many people end up dying as photocopies’. Don’t let that happen to you!” (Christ is Alive, 106).

Steve Jobs’ words about the importance of saying ‘no’ were also influential. Showing wisdom beyond his years, Carlo realized that we can’t say yes to everything. There has to be boundaries and choices of what we accept and reject. He also knew that all goods don’t exist on the same level but present themselves to us in a hierarchy of greater or lesser value and that only by saying ‘no’ to a lesser good, we can ‘yes’ to something even greater.

For Carlo, this highest good of all was God and his will for his life. “Happiness is looking towards God” he said. “Sadness is looking towards yourself”. One of his best-known pieces of wisdom says it all: “God and not me”. In Italian, the phrase has even greater effect with the words: “Dio, non io”. He also shared: “Money is only ragged paper…what counts in life is the nobility of the soul, that is, the way that one loves God and loves one’s neighbour”. Here is a clarity of vision from the future saint that encourages young people not to settle for something beneath their dignity or to pursue goods that fail to satisfy the longings of the human heart. It is a call not to stifle the hope in young hearts. Inspired again by Carlo, Pope Francis teaches:

“Don’t let them rob you of hope and joy, or drug you into becoming a slave to their interests. Dare to be more, because who you are is more important than any possession. What good are possessions or appearances? You can become what God your Creator knows you are, if only you realize that you are called to something greater. Ask the help of the Holy Spirit and confidently aim for the great goal of holiness. In this way, you will not be a photocopy. You will be fully yourself….If this is to happen, you need to realize one basic truth: being young is not only about pursuing fleeting pleasures and superficial achievements. If the years of your youth are to serve their purpose in life, they must be a time of generous commitment, whole-hearted dedication, and sacrifices that are difficult but ultimately fruitful” (Christ is Alive, 107-108).

At a time when excessive screentime is a worry for the parents of teenagers, Carlo is a great example of someone who used modern technology to good effect without wasting time or being distracted. During the autumn of 2004, he accepted the responsibility of being deputy catechist, accompanying candidates for First Communion and Confirmation. During that time, Carlo used his skills to update and develop the websites and communication platforms of his parish and school, opening up new ways to evangelise and share the Good News. Not being naïve about the dangers of the internet, he warned his fellow students about the evils of pornography that “hypnotise” its victims and de-humanise both its producers and consumers. He gently but firmly counselled his fellow students about the importance of the will and the capacity to master it with God’s grace. For Carlo, information technology must be seen for what it is – a tool to share good news, to connect and do good. In this regard, he is a role model for young people and indeed for all of us of how to use technology but not in a way that manipulates or controls us. Again, the words of Pope Francis:

“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. Yet he knew how to use the new communications technology to transmit the Gospel, to communicate values and beauty” (Christ is Alive, 105)

From a young age, Carlo grasped the teaching of Jesus about the importance of interior disposition being the key to what we say or act. He knew that a deep and beautiful spirituality on the inside is the secret of a serene, consistent and joyful disposition that presents itself on the outside. Carlo often repeated: “Why do people worry so much about their physical beauty but don’t worry about the beauty of their souls?” This insight comes close to what the great St Augustine wrote centuries before: “The more love grows in you, the more beauty grows in you and the more beautiful you will become”. Carlo exemplified this beauty as a person of great holiness on the inside and great charity he showed in how he lived. He helped immigrants, beggars, the disabled, the elderly and was a friend to those hos own age whose parents had separated.

Another distinct feature of Carlo’s young life was his love for the Eucharist. At a time when many of his contemporaries were walking away from the Mass, Carlo found something beautiful in it that attracted him, something divine that he experienced. For Carlo, the Eucharist was a threshold experience that enabled him to transcend the border of this world and touch a world beyond. He famously said: “The Eucharist is my motorway to heaven” and that “with each Communion we come closer to the goal of sanctity”.

He also loved the habitual prayer of Eucharistic adoration as a time of intimate communion with the Lord Jesus. The English word ‘adoration’ comes from the Latin ‘ad-oratio’ which literally means ‘towards the mouth’.  Therefore, the intimacy of the term captures exactly what the experience is meant to convey – an experience of intimacy with the God who awaits for us in the Eucharist. Carlo compared his time in Adoration of the Eucharist as being like St John the Apostle who leaned on the Lord’s breast at the Last Supper. Conveyed here is the intimate union of the hearts and souls of friends – an intimacy St Gregory of Nyssa described many centuries before when he wrote: “The Lord’s breast is the sponge of the heart” (St Gregory of Nyssa, Commentary on the Song of Songs). For Carlo, we are called to possess “Eucharistic souls in which God works those marvels in us that only He can do”.

Carlo was also fascinated by the Eucharistic miracles of the Church’s history. He worked to assemble information and an exhibition about those that were known to him. These included the Eucharistic miracles of Lanciano, Bolsena (Italy) and Santarem (Portugal). For Carlo, every Mass in the past and the present is an out-pouring of the same gift, namely the saving love, truth and mercy of Jesus Christ, the total gift of God’s very self.

Carlo Acutis died after a short illness caused by acute leukemia. He faced his death with great courage as did his suffering parents. Though they prayed for the miracle of his survival, they all came to realise that God doesn’t always save us from death but in death. 

The life of Carlo ended on 12^th October 2006. Since then, there have been countless witnesses who have come forward and testify to his intercession and to the amount of good that continues to pour from this young man’s life. He is a wonderful example of how living a life of joyful faith takes nothing away from our desire to be free and happy.

On October 10^th 2020, the Church proclaimed Carlo blessed. On that occasion, Cardinal Vallini said of him: “Carlo testified that faith does not distance us from life, but immerses us more deeply in it, showing us the concrete way to live the joy of the Gospel. It is up to us to walk it, attracted by the fascinating experience of Blessed Carlo, so that our lives too can shine with light and hope”.

Having spent two weeks as his close neighbour in Assisi in the summer of 2024, I give thanks for this experience of discovering the life of Blessed Carlo Acutis and for spending time in the chapel where his body rests. The theme of the Jubilee year is “Pilgrims of Hope”. May St Carlo Acutis accompany us as pilgrims of hope – a hope that is placed in the ever present, active and powerful love of the crucified risen Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.