London-born teenager becomes world’s first millennial saint

Carlo Acutis was beautified five years ago

Announced by Pope Leo XIV, the late Carlo Acutis has been canonised this morning almost two decades since passing away from leukaemia aged just 15.

Acutis, whose body has been preserved for the last 19 years, was initially set to be canonised on April 27, but when Pope Francis died six days prior, the event got postponed in service of the Catholic Church protocols.

From Italian ancestry, the teenager was born in London and lived the majority of his life in the city of Milan, while such was his love for computers, Acutis was dubbed the 'Patron Saint of the Internet'.

Justification for Acutis's joining of the heavenly order stems all the way back to his early childhood, when he regularly donated money to the poor aged seven.

He spent his nights cooking meals for the homeless, too, yet it was his connection to two inexplicable miracles that truly caught the eye of the Vatican.

Acutis apparently helped Brazilian toddler, Matheus Vianna, recover from the deadly congenital disorder annular pancreas, after his mother turned to the church for assistance.

Father Marcelo Tenorio, who was blessing Acutis's body for pre-canonisation at the time, allowed the youngster to make contact with an item of Acutis's clothing before asking him to be saved.

The family claimed that Matheus was never sick again following the incident.

Meanwhile, Acutis was deemed responsible for the miracle of Costa Rican woman Valeria Valverde too, whose mother prayed beside the teen's coffin after her daughter suffered a brain haemorrhage.

Valeria started to breathe again and was discharged from hospital soon after.