Carlo Acutis: A young saint to be. A friend in heaven!
Mireille Haj-Chahine
Thursday, September 4, 2025
Photo © Salt + Light Media, 2025.
“We are not alone: Jesus, the Living One, is with us forever. The Church and the world rejoice because today our hopes are no longer shattered against the wall of death, but the Lord has opened a bridge to life for us.” This Urbi et Orbi message from Pope Francis at Easter 2023 resonates in my mind!
As we all know, the Easter season guides us straight to “the Essential”: to the Risen Christ and our eternal destiny in him. In parallel, Carlo Acutis’s life bears witness to a path of clarity, a “Highway” to heaven, strewn with faith, prayer, and trust. All his life, Carlo Acutis traced this path, which led him to encounter Christ daily in the Eucharist and in the faces of the poor.
Over the past few years, we've been discovering a panoply of articles, documentaries, and comic strips created all over the world, all with the same focus: “Carlo Acutis.” This young teenager, who will be canonized on Sunday September 7, is renowned for his exceptional computer skills and talents. He spent his time in prayer, worship, and service to others. His mysterious death and short life on earth show us a young teenager who came to deliver a message that was close to his heart and central to his life: the Eucharist, this priceless gift left by Jesus Christ for the love of all humankind. From an early age, Carlo Acutis found himself fascinated by the Love of Jesus Christ, whom he met in the Tabernacle through hours of adoration, that took him away from the noises of worldly life, the various distractions, social outings and the queues for a film or a passing show. His strong faith and deep spirituality led him to share with others a beautiful heritage of prayer received from his nanny as a child, and consolidated by his fascinating discovery of the miracle of the Eucharist in Lanciano in 750 A.D., where Jesus let himself be seen in the Eucharist! This led Carlo Acutis to believe in these miracles even more, and he continued his research to identify others for the Common good. He spent his time being as close as possible to Christ in thought and action ; so as to meet him everywhere, whether in the Eucharist, his involvement in various parish activities, or volunteering with the poor and homeless.
I discovered Carlo Acutis at his beatification Mass on October 10th, 2020. This moving liturgy, broadcast on Salt + Light TV, made a deep impression on me. I began to discover him more and more on the internet through Catholic websites. He received the grace to follow the path to heaven with clarity, determination, and certainty. Quite simply, he chose holiness. His example fascinates us, amazes us and teaches us that nothing is impossible for those who seek “the Essential” and decide to follow it. With a true heart and availability, we are all invited to conversion, to trust and not to condemn.
A similarity of life with the great saints of the Church:
Striving for holiness was a top priority in their lives! Carlo Acutis reminds me of St. Charbel Makhlouf, a hermit monk of the Lebanese Maronite Order (LMO), and St. Padre Pio. All the three saints prioritized love of Christ, practiced Eucharistic adoration and long hours of prayer. **One common factor united them: staying as close as possible to the Lord in thought and deed. St. Charbel and St. Padre Pio devoted their lives to celebrating the Eucharist at Mass. All three continually adored the Tabernacle and prayed the rosary They adopted of an enlightened attitude and right behaviour that always brought them closer to God. We tend to believe that saints of bygone eras, and the ideal young man of our time, were never tempted by experiences or ideas that led them astray from the path of God. Think again! They were constantly invoking the goodness and grace of the Lord, to be spared and far from anything that might not please Him, by adopting good discernment. The example of these three saints shows us that they found their salvation by journeying upwards, towards Him:- St. Charbel often repeated that the way to heaven is upwards, and that men, indeed humans, run downwards. He couldn't understand just why we ran downwards. He was born in Heaven on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1898: he died during the celebration of the gift of the Eucharist, while handing over his soul to God with pieces of the Host between his fingers., I invite you to read my reflection, St. Charbel, the heavenly doctor who never stops working!
- St. Padre Pio, despite a complex life full of trials, chose to unite himself with Christ and joyfully welcome the stigmata to share his pain with Him.
- As I mentioned above, Carlo Acutis called the Eucharist “the highway to Heaven.” One of his inspiring quotes, which touches me in particular, is: “Conversion is nothing more than moving your gaze from bottom to top, a simple movement of the eyes is enough.” He received his First Communion at the age of seven. Inflamed by a strong, living faith, he grew up with Beata, his nanny, who showed him the importance of praying to God, worshipping Him, and talking about Him so that those around him could benefit from his beautiful, enriching faith experiences. He decided to start thinking about how he could pass on Christ's love to them. Being a great computer expert, he was able to list on his website 132 miracles recognized and authenticated by the Church.
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