Thousands pay homage to Blessed Carlo Acutis by visiting his burial site, where his body lies in repose, heading up to Carlo’s feast day, but it's also a normal occurrence throughout the year, according to the Catholic Sun.

As Catholics observed his feast day Wednesday, EWTN tweeted: "TODAY is the feast day of Blessed Carlo Acutis, a Millennial on the path to sainthood. In the short 15 years of his life, he touched thousands of people with his testimony of faith and deep devotion to the Holy Eucharist. Blessed Carlo, pray for us!” h

The young man caught the attention of many Church leaders during his short time on earth. Pope Francis hailed him as a role model for young people of faith. 

“Every day, I meet families, young people, groups of visitors from every part of Italy, and after the reopening (of the country), from different parts of the world,” said Capuchin Father Carlos Acácio Gonçalves Ferreira, rector of the Shrine of the Renunciation, where Carlo is buried. 

The Catholic Sun reported that in February of 2020, Pope Francis officially recognized a miracle attributed to Carlo’s intercession which led to his beatification later that year. 

Carlo was born in London in 1991. Shortly thereafter his family moved to Milan, Italy. He was diagnosed with leukemia when he was young. Carlo offered his sufferings up for Pope Benedict XVI and the Church, a Catholic News Agency article by Francesca Pollio Fenton says.

“I offer all the suffering I will have to suffer for the Lord, for the Pope, and the Church,” Carlo is credited with saying. Carlo had a special devotion to God and the sacraments, even though his parents weren’t devout Catholics. He had a particular affinity for the Eucharist and traveled to different sites where Eucharistic miracles have occurred. 

His faith was so deep that it prompted his mother to revert back to Catholicism, CNA says. Carlo “managed to drag his relatives, his parents to Mass every day. It was not the other way around; it was not his parents bringing the little boy to Mass, but it was he who managed to get himself to Mass and to convince others to receive Communion daily,” Fenton writes, attributing that to a priest who had fought for Carlo to be canonized. 

Carlo had a keen interest in computer programming that he used to spread the word. He created a website that highlights all the Eucharistic miracles around the world. He once wrote that, “The more often we receive the Eucharist, the more we will become like Jesus, so that on this earth we will have a foretaste of heaven,” CNA says. 

Carlo died on Oct. 12, 2006, and was buried in Assisi. He had requested burial there because of his devotion to St. Francis. He was made a “Venerable” in 2018, and Pope Francis designated him a “Blessed” on Oct. 10, 2020, citing the aforementioned miracle. Carlo’s heart is held in the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi as a relic and his body is on display with him wearing jeans and Nike tennis shoes, as he had said he wanted to look like a normal teenage boy, CNA continues. 

EWTN is offering the chance for people to watch a documentary on Blessed Carlo’s life. “I am With You” can be found on the EWTN website.