Assisi
In a medieval church built of white stone, pilgrims and tourists shuffle past the body of a 15-year-old boy in a tomb with a glass side. The boy is handsome, with dark curly hair, and wears a blue tracksuit top, jeans and Nike trainers. Everyone peers through the glass and some realise, with a start, that the perfectly preserved face and hands are eerily lifelike silicone. The real remains, decomposing for almost 20 years, are inside the effigy. This is Carlo Acutis, the Italian teenager known as ‘God’s influencer’, who is about to become the first millennial saint of the Roman Catholic Church.
The tomb is held up from behind and so appears to levitate, surrounded by a corona of bright light. Two middle-aged women from the Philippines press rosary beads to it and pose for photographs, one at either end. A smart young couple take their son out of his pushchair to touch the glass. They have come from Portugal to thank Carlo. They prayed to him when their little boy was in hospital with meningitis and he was ‘saved’. The father calls Carlo ‘a new hope for these coming times’.
Carlo’s devoted followers also post prayers on social media. ‘Blessed Carlo, heal my son, help him to walk again… Blessed Carlo, ask Jesus to forgive me for starting a fight with the wife after a few drinks… Blessed Carlo, please ask Jesus to heal my grandson’s cancer… I lift up my nephew for a miraculous healing from autism… Heal me of my diabetes… Treat my anxiety.’ His tomb is streamed live by webcam 24/7.
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