BBC Learning English News

2025-09-10 ‘God’s influencer’: First millennial saint named – Learning English from the News

The story

A boy who died at the age of 15 has been made a saint by the Catholic Church.

Carlo Acutis died in 2006 from leukaemia. He became interested in Catholicism as a child and showed an interest in helping others.

He was a keen gamer who was interested in computers, and had created websites to document religious miracles and helped run pages for Catholic organisations.

News headlines

Carlo Acutis, nicknamed ‘God’s influencer’, becomes the first ‘millennial’ saint
CNN

Pope Leo XIV declares teen computer whiz Carlo Acutis the first millennial saint
ABC News, USA

Carlo and the call to evangelise in the digital age
OSV News

Key words and phrases

nickname
give someone or something an alternative name

  • She was so good at football that her friends nicknamed her ‘Messi’.

whiz
someone who is very good at something

  • My cousin is a real finance whiz – she’d be a great accountant.

evangelise
tell people that something is very good

  • She was always going to be a dietician. She won’t stop evangelising about the benefits of whole foods.

BBC Learning English

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