Teen Computer Prodigy, Who Died At 15, To Become First "Millennial Saint"

A UK-born teenager, who died in 2006 from leukemia, is set to become the Catholic Church's first "millennial saint".

Born in 1991 in London, Carlo Acutis was a computer prodigy who developed websites to spread the church's teachings online before his death. He has since come to be known as "God's influencer". 

After he died in Italy, where he lived with his parents, his body was moved to a tomb where it lay on full display along with his belongings.

The 15-year-old was put on the path of sainthood after a seven-year-old Brazilian boy reportedly recovered from a rare pancreatic disease after he touched one of Acutis's t-shirts and a priest prayed to him on behalf of the child.

The recovery was deemed miraculous after it was assessed and approved by the Pope. In Catholicism, a person is qualified to be a saint if two miracles are attributed to them and approved by the Pope.

On Thursday, Pope Francis approved a second miracle attributed to Acutis, qualifying the teenager for canonisation.

A university student in Florence who suffered a brain bleed after a bicycle accident was in a critical condition, her family was told.

Days after her mother prayed for her recovery at the tomb of Acutis, she claimed her daughter was taken off ventilator and 10 days later, scans showed her brain injury had disappeared.

Acutis is the only person who was born in the 1990s to be canonised. The previous person to be canonised by Pope Francis was born in 1926.

Even as a child, Acutis showed signs of religious devotion. Her mother told local media that he would ask her to visit churches when he was only three years old to donate his pocket money to the poor. 

The teen also taught himself to code in order to build websites for Catholic organisations. His most important one being a website that documents all the miracles witnessed across the globe.

The website has now been translated into several different languages.