AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
The Catholic Church canonized the first saint of the millennial generation. Carlo Acutis died of leukemia at 15 years old in 2006. He was nicknamed the Saint of the Internet and God's Influencer for promoting Catholic miracles online. Thousands of people came to the open-air Mass to witness the canonization presided over by Pope Leo.
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RASCOE: NPR's Ruth Sherlock was there and joins us now from the Vatican. Welcome.
RUTH SHERLOCK, BYLINE: Hi, thank you.
RASCOE: So what did you see there? Like, describe the scene?
SHERLOCK: Well, look, it's clear that for Catholics, this is an important moment in history. There were these huge crowds, many, many young people. I spoke with one group of teenagers that were wearing these baseball caps with the image of Carlo Acutis' face on them, and they were so excited that they just all talked over each other at once.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
SHERLOCK: That's Julia Logozzo (ph) and Laminia Murfone (ph) and they say Acutis is a point of reference for 14-year-olds like them, an inspiration. And, you know, this is exactly the kind of enthusiasm that the church is hoping for. Pope Leo's predecessor, Francis, really pushed forward the case to make Acutis a saint for this reason because the church wants to attract more young people to the Catholic faith. It can take centuries to become a saint, but for Acutis, it's taken less than 20 years.
RASCOE: You met Acutis' mother recently. What does she tell you?
SHERLOCK: Well, look, I asked her what she wanted people to remember most about her son, and she told me his kindness.
ANTONIA SALZANO: The love for the others because Carlo, when he was 9 years old, he started to help the beggars in the street and to take a sleeping bag, blankets, food.
SHERLOCK: He was born in London and then raised in Milan, and he quickly became a computer whiz. And just as a child, he created this website that documented Catholic miracles. Speaking with his mom, Salzano, I realized how much she's been the driving force in helping her son become canonized today. It's an intense and costly process, and in particular, the saint has to be recognized by the Vatican for bringing about at least two miracles.
RASCOE: So what miracles do the church attribute to the millennial saint?
SHERLOCK: Well, the Vatican says Acutis healed a 4-year-old Brazilian boy with a serious pancreatic malformation, and he helped a Costa Rican woman make a sudden recovery from this almost-fatal biking accident.
I went to Assisi, the hilltop town where you can see his tomb. People look in on the glass side of the tomb, and they see this boy. His remains have been reconstructed with silicon, and he's dressed in modern clothes - a tracksuit bottom and Nike sneakers. And there, people are at his tomb praying and crying. There is real impassion for this saint.
Other parts of his body have been taken as relics. For example, part of his pericardium - the heart sack - is touring the world at the moment. I spoke with a priest who takes this in its glass and gold case around, and they've been to almost 25 countries in less than two years. And he says wherever they go, they attract crowds of thousands of people who just want to feel close to Acutis.
RASCOE: That's NPR's Ruth Sherlock in the Vatican. Thank you so much for joining us.
SHERLOCK: Thank you so much. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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