Relics of ‘God’s influencer’ – Blessed Carlo Acutis – welcomed to Manchester

The relics of Blessed Carlo Acutis, the Italian teenager who is likely to become “the first millennial saint”, will today be welcomed to Manchester.

A relic of his heart will be brought to Wythenshawe, in the Diocese of Shrewsbury, for four days of public prayer, veneration and devotion.

Blessed Carlo, who was born in London to Italian parents, died from leukaemia in 2006 at the age of 15 after dedicating himself to spreading devotion of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist through a website he designed himself.

He became known as “God’s influencer” because of his inventive use of social media in the cause of the “new evangelisation”.

His relic, which is kept in an ornate reliquary, will be shown at St Anthony’s Church from today until Monday.

The visit is expected to draw thousands of pilgrims, following the success of previous visits to the Diocese of Shrewsbury of the relic of the heart of St John Vianney in 2012 and the relics of St Bernadette of Lourdes in 2022.

St Anthony’s Church is open to all people who have booked a time to prayer before the relic through an Eventbrite link on the website of the Diocese of Shrewsbury (www.dioceseofshrewsbury.org)

The Rt Rev. Mark Davies, the Bishop of Shrewsbury, said: “The witness of Blessed Carlo Acutis will continue among us through the pilgrimage of his relic.

“The days of prayer and celebration in Wythenshawe will invite us to draw closer to Jesus Christ as this teenager did in the first years of our century, above all by knowing His real and loving presence in the Holy Eucharist.”

Blessed Carlowas born on May 3, 1991, and moved to Italy with his parents when he was three months old. From a very young age, he showed a devotion to Jesus Christ, especially in the Most Holy Eucharist.

He was known for his devotion to Eucharistic miracles and Marian apparitions, which he catalogued on a website he designed.

Carlo developed untreatable leukaemia and died in Monza, Italy, in 2006 at the age of 15. He was beatified in 2020 after the inexplicable healing of a Brazilian child was attributed to his intercession.

Carlo has been described as “God’s influencer” because he was a web designer who used social media to spread devotion to Jesus. His biographer has described him as “a model for all young people, showing that holiness is accessible and can be lived fully even in our contemporary world”, partly because wore jeans and trainers, played video games and loved, computing, websites and football.

Carlo’s outlook was simple and profound: “To always be close to Jesus, that’s my life plan”.

In July, Pope Francis approved a second miracle at Blessed Carlo’s intercession that will permit his canonisation as the “the first millennial saint”, a reference to those born between 1981 and 1996.

Blessed Carlo Acutis will likely be proclaimed a Saint during the 2025 Jubilee, according to the Vatican, which has described him as “welcoming and caring towards the poorest, and he helped the homeless, the needy, and immigrants with the money he saved from his weekly allowance”.

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