The Vatican has postponed the sainthood of British-born teenager Carlo Acutis, whose body has been preserved for 19 years, following the death of Pope Francis.
But a 15-year-old London-born Italian, who lived most of his life in Milan, Italy, was due to receive his sainthood by the late Pontiff on April 27.
‘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 said in a brief statement.
When a pope dies, several church functions slow down or come to a halt altogether, until a new pope is elected. This means that final approvals, such as the signing off on a miracle or setting a canonisation date, are generally pushed back.
Carlo, whose Italian family moved to Milan just months after his birth in 1991, dedicated his short life to Catholicism before he died of leukaemia in 2006, aged 15.
The teenager was dedicated to the church throughout his short life, receiving first communion at the age of seven and regularly attending daily Mass and praying the rosary.
As a young child, he would donate his money to the poor, and when he was old enough spent his evenings cooking and delivering meals to the homeless.
Carlo Acutis, who lived most of his life in Milan, Italy, was due to receive his sainthood by the late Pontiff on April 27
Pope Francis died on Easter Monday. Pictured: Francis is helped to drink water during the Urbi et Orbi Message to the World at the central Loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, on April 20, 2025
A nun stands near the tomb of Blessed Carlo Acutis in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore on March 18, 2025 in Assisi, Italy
Then, at the end of each day, Carlo would take time to reflect on his life, how he treated his friends, teachers and parents and how he could eliminate any form of sin that he may have committed.
But the religious teenager intertwined his faith with his passion for technology, gaining him the nickname of ‘God’s influencer’ as he used his computer skills to spread the word of Catholicism.
He published newsletters for local churches and took care of his parish website, before being later tasked with heading a Vatican-based academy site.
Carlo became interested in Eucharistic phenomenon’s – events deemed miracles which take place around the Eucharist, the traditional name the Christian church gives to the re-enactment of the Last Supper.
It’s the moment when the faithful are given a small piece of bread and a sip of wine, called the Holy Communion.
They believe that, through the consumption of the bread and wine, Jesus Christ enters those who take part.
He soon set up a website, ‘The Eucharistic Miracles of the World’, where he researched and documented miracles attributed with the Eucharist.
The website says it ‘aimed at confirming faith in the real presence of the body and blood of the Lord in the Eucharist’.
Carlo died on October 12, 2006.
Several years after his death, the Vatican would conclude that Carlo had interceded from heaven to help a young Brazilian boy suffering from a rare pancreatic disease.
Matheus Vianna had been diagnosed with annular pancreas, a rare congenital disease, at the age of two.One of the symptoms was frequent vomiting, limiting him to a liquid diet.
With the guidance of Fr. Marcelo Tenorio, who was supporting the cause of Carlo’s beatification, Matheus’ mother began to pray to the late teenager.
The priest recovered a piece of cloth from Carlo’s clothes, and touched the cloth against young Matheus, asking for him to be healed.
According to the family, Matheus never vomited again and began consuming whole foods.
As a young child, Carlo would donate his money to the poor, and when he was old enough spent his evenings cooking and delivering meals to the homeless
The remains of Blessed Carlo Acutis lay in his tomb in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore on March 18, 2025 in Assisi, Italy
Carlo (pictured) was a devout Christian when he was alive and attended daily mass
Pilgrims queue to enter the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore church and to pay their respects at the tomb of the Blessed Carlo Acutis
Carlo Acutis pictured smiling at the camera while sporting an AC Milan home kit from the 1990s
Pope Francis appears on a balcony on the day the ‘Urbi et Orbi’ (to the city and to the world) message is delivered, at St. Peter’s Square, on Easter Sunday, in the Vatican, April 20, 2025
The doctors reportedly found that the disease had been cured.
In July 2018, Pope Francis named him venerable. And after a lengthy investigation, the Vatican decided that it would progress his cause in February 2020.
To become a saint, an individual requires two miracles attributed to them.
The second would come in 2022, when the mother of a Costa Rican woman involved in a serious bike accident had prayed at his glass casket and left a note asking for her to be healed in 2022.
The same day her daughter began to breathe independently and 10 days later she was discharged from intensive care because the haemorrhage in her brain had disappeared.
The Vatican concluded the ‘miracle’ was a result of Carlo’s intercession in May 2024, paving the way for him to be canonised as a saint.
Carlo has become revered as an exemplary young person for his kindness and caring, acting in life – and, per the Vatican, after life – to help others in need.
But Sunday’s scheduled canonisation of the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint has been postponed to a later date.
Francis, who was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, became the first Latin American pontiff in history when he was elected to the papacy in 2013.
Last month he was discharged from Rome’s Gemelli hospital after a 38 day stay following a respiratory crisis that developed into double pneumonia.
His death was confirmed just hours after a much hoped-for appearance at St Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday.
