Carlo Acutis : Modern Sainthood and (Virtual Pilgrimage)
Related to my longstanding research on devotion and pilgrimage to St. Padre Pio devotion, I have begun a new research project examining the meteoric rise, and the swift sainthood, of St. Carlo Acutis (1991-2006), who was canonized on April 27, 2025 during the Jubilee Year of Hope as the first Millennial saint. There are many similarities between Pio and Carlo and the relatively quick process of canonization. Both are global, “rockstar saints” whose extraordinary biographies tapped into the hearts and imagination of faithful from around the world. Both were considered living saints in their lifetime. Both have been touted as the saint of their generation. However, while Pio is popularly known for the extraordinary supernatural occurrences that marked his life—including the stigmata, bilocation, and knowing one’s sins—Carlo is popular among the youth particularly for his ordinariness, carried out with extraordinary faith: a lover of Nutella, soccer, and PlayStation games, he is buried in jeans and Nike sneakers and is being touted as “God’s influencer” and the unofficial “Patron Saint of the Internet.” Memes, video shorts and other grassroots social media posts mark the intersection of official and unofficial religious devotion in new, contemporary ways, and shows how the Catholic Church in modernizing in the 21st century.
The research also examines pilgrimage, museum exhibits, and shrines to Carlo Acutis. Unlike Padre Pio, Acutis is buried in a small, historic church in Assisi, built on the site of a major event in the life of St. Francis. How will Assisi—one of the most important pilgrimage sites in the world thanks to St. Francis, as well as a World Heritage site for Giotto’s important frescoes—be impacted by the presence of another saint, one who speaks to a different generation? Is the small town big enough for both saints? Or will his pilgrimage shift to the virtual realm?
Building on my own work on virtual pilgrimages and virtual exhibitions, the research also examines the development of develop virtual pilgrimage and online devotion to Acutis—something that the young saint started when he programmed some of the first virtual exhibitions of pilgrimages to Eucharistic Miracles and Marian Apparitions in the early days of the Internet.
