the saint in sneakers that inspires a generation

Three brown hair revered by a hundred young people. Sister Cristiana still remembers it. Four years ago, during a summer camp, the nun exposed the relics of Carlo Acutis, a young Italian who died in 2006 at the age of 15. At the end of the mass, the retreaters approach, kneel and pray in silence. One of them, three years older than the blessed, has a precise request. Could he get him to stop getting bored Mass fatally, he who attended it every day? A month later, he recalls the nun: “Do you know what?” I don’t know what happened, but now I’m going to mass or worship every day. ”

Since then, Sister Cristiana has continued to publicize the one who will be canonized this Sunday, September 7 in Rome. She often tells the strength of her commitment to touch young people. And it works. From an early age, Carlo shows an surprisingly ripe faith. He was doing the Eucharist “his highway to the sky”, going to mass every day from the age of 7 and reciting the rosary. His modern look, his digital skills: everything talks to him about teens.

They are all the more struck when they see him say in front of the camera, two months before succumbing to a lightning leukemia: “I am intended to die”, then smile with an expression of happiness. “His testimony awakens very deep questions, the sense of life, the existence of God,” observes Sister Cristiana.

“Contemporary figure”

Like the 37 -year -old consecrated, many find this sneakers an effective way to address the young generation. Since 2019 and the publication of Christus Vivit – apostolic exhortation addressed to young people where the Pope evokes Carlo Acutis, already declared venerable – the round face of the young Milanese, red polo shirt and dark eyes, invades the French parishes.

We no longer count the scout groups, chaplains or patronages that bear his name. The vile of the veneration of his relics and the pilgrimages on his grave, in Assisi (Italy), multiply. “It is a contemporary figure, which speaks in our time. This is why he is so loved, ”says Father Vincent Breynaert, former head of the evangelization of young people for the Conference of Bishops of France.

“Carlo represents all teens of the 21st century”

Proclaimed nineteen years after his death, his canonization will have been flash. The letters sent to Rome every day – dozens, then hundreds after its beatification in 2020 – accelerated the procedure. The association of friends of Carlo Acutis, founded with the wealthy parents of the teenager, obtained the financial means necessary to remunerate the experts responsible for studying the file.

For the Vatican, “there was an emergency,” recognizes Father Will Conquer, author of Carlo Acutis, a geek in paradise. “The church wants to save a lost generation,” he says. For this, it canonizes standard profiles. “Carlo represents all the teenagers of the 21st century, with their laptop in hand, as Saint Isidore the plowman embodied the peasants,” he explains.

Fervor and simplicity

Behind the image of a modern adolescent, it is the depth of his spiritual life that upsets. Daily mass, regular confessions, prayer of the rosary, concern for the salvation of souls … “These are points whose church has spoken less for a few decades,” notes Father Will Conquer.

It was this requirement that affected Benoît, 22, when he met the mother of the saint during a pilgrimage to Assisi. “From this moment, I decided to change my lifestyle,” says the high -level sportsman. Carlo Acutis first made herself known by his exhibition on Eucharistic miracles. A discovery that has “completely changed” Benoît and his relationship to this sacrament. The young Italian, very publicized, arrived at the right time for a church in crisis, shaken by scandals and the fall of vocations

But this craze around the saint “geek” can annoy some. And contrasts with the fairly ordinary character of his life. Two of his best friends in the college, interviewed by The Economist In March, talk about him as a normal teenager, who loved racing cars and Simpsons. They had not noticed much of his faith.

His comrades nevertheless remember his unusual kindness, which was also manifested with the poor. His life took place in a pocket handkerchief between school, house and church. “With Carlo Acutis, Rome validates simplicity,” analyzes Father Will Conquer. A simplicity that brought fruit: the crowd overflowed from the church on the day of its burial.