When we think of saints, it can be easy to imagine people from another time and place, whose lives bear little resemblance to our own. Saint Carlo Acutis challenges that picture. 

Carlo wore jeans and sneakers. He played soccer and video games, spent time with friends and taught himself computer programming. He understood the possibilities of technology from an early age and created a website documenting Eucharistic miracles around the world. 

Yet at the centre of his life was a deep and very simple love for Jesus. Carlo attended Mass whenever he could, spent time in Eucharistic Adoration and looked out for people who were poor, bullied or lonely. He described the Eucharist as his “highway to Heaven”. 

When Carlo died from leukaemia in 2006, he was just 15 years old. Perhaps that is part of the reason his story speaks so powerfully to young people today.

Carlo did not wait until he was older to take his faith seriously. He shows us that faith can be lived in the ordinary circumstances of our lives, using the gifts and interests God has given us.

He simply placed Christ at the centre of the life he was already living. Doing this didn’t diminish the quality of Carlo’s life. It increased it exponentially! The same can be true for each of us. 

Our young people bring much to the life of the Church. They have questions and ideas, different experiences and gifts of their own. They have passion, enthusiasm and zeal. They often see the world differently from older folk, and our Church is richer when we listen to them and make room for all they have to offer. 

That is part of the hope behind ALIVE Catholic Youth, our growing ministry with young people across the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle. Through annual retreats and opportunities to gather and connect, we want our young people to know there is a place for them in the Church: to find friendship, ask questions, grow in faith, take on leadership and discover how they might use their own gifts in the service of others and grow the Kingdom of God. 

September will bring these hopes together in a special way. From 8–13 September, the major first class relic of Saint Carlo (his pericardium, the membrane that surrounds the heart) will travel through our Diocese, visiting Newcastle, Aberdeen, Taree and Shortland.

The visit gives us an opportunity to reflect on Carlo’s life and what his example might mean for our own. I hope our young people in particular will come to know Carlo, not simply as a saint to admire, but as someone who shows that faith can be lived here and now. 

We will welcome the major relic at Sacred Heart Cathedral on 8 September. That same evening, we will launch our diocesan pilgrimage to World Youth Day 2027 in Seoul. The theme Pope Leo XIV has chosen comes from the words of Jesus: “Take courage! I have overcome the world.” 

There will be times when our young people need to hear these words. There will be uncertainty and questions without easy answers. There will also be gifts to discover and a faith that can sustain them through whatever lies ahead. I hope our parishes, schools and families will encourage our young people to be part of the opportunities before them. 

Saint Carlo once said: “Always remember that you, too, can become a saint!” He was speaking to young people, but perhaps it is a reminder for all of us.  

We are never too young, or too old, to become the person God calls us to be.

Find out more about the Australian mission here.

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