UPDATE: |Vatican’s major announcement on UK teen’s sainthood after Pope Francis’ death News

The Vatican has found British born Carlo Acutis responsible for two miracles after his death

The Vatican has made a major announcement regarding the canonisation of British-born teen Carlo Acutis following Pope Francis’ death.

The late Pope Francis was set to confer sainthood upon Carlo Acutis, a British-born Italian who spent most of his life in Italy, later this month. Acutis, who passed away at 15 from leukaemia in 2006, had dedicated his short life to serving the Catholic Church and aiding those in need.

Born in London but primarily raised in Milan, Italy, he was known for his charitable acts since childhood, such as donating to the poor and, once older, preparing and delivering meals to the homeless. Carlo’s body has been preserved for nearly two decades in anticipation of his official saint induction ceremony, which was scheduled for April 27.

However, following the death of Pope Francis, these plans have been postponed, the Mirror reports.

A Vatican spokesperson said: “Following the death of the Sovereign Pontiff Francis, we inform you that the Eucharistic Celebration and Rite of Canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis… has been postponed.”

The Vatican did not immediately provide a potential replacement day for the canonisation. Several vital Catholic Church functions are typically shuttered in the wake of a Pope’s death, with the central figure responsible for personally administering a selection of church-given honours.

Carlo’s journey to sainthood has been ongoing for nearly two decades since his death, with Vatican officials concluding several years after he died that he was responsible for helping a Brazilian boy recover from a deadly disease.

The teenager, who became known as “God’s influencer” through his passionate use of technology to propagate the teachings of Catholicism and modernise his local church’s processes, established the “Eucharistic Miracles of the World” website where he documented alleged miracles said to have occurred during the Eurcharist before he died.

Later on, when two year old Matheus Vianna faced a diagnosis of the congenital disorder annular pancreas, his mother sought assistance from the church.

She was advised by Father Marcelo Tenorio, an advocate of Carlo’s beatification (the precursor to canonisation), and began to pray to the late teenager.

Father Tenorio applied an item of Carlo’s clothing to the young boy.

He prayed for his healing, after which, Matheus’ family reported that he stopped vomiting and commenced consumption of solid food, a remarkable improvement considering his previous restriction to a solely liquid diet.

In May 2024, the Vatican concluded he was responsible for a second miracle – a requirement for Canonisation.

A Costa Rican woman, who had sustained a brain haemorrhage after a serious bike accident, started to breathe independently as her mother prayed at Carlo’s coffin in 2022.

She was later discharged from hospital, with the haemorrhage in her brain having disappeared.

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