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Every mother thinks her son is a saint. Hers actually will be.
Every mother thinks her son is a saint. Hers actually will be. Antonia Salzano wasn't particularly religious until she saw faith through her son. Others can follow his example, she said while touring the US.
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Pope Francis okays Carlo Acutis to become the first millennial saint
Pope Francis approved the canonization of Carlo Acutis, a 15-year-old who died in 2006 from leukemia.
NEW YORK – Every mother thinks her son is a saint, but Antonia Salzano's is about to become a real one.
Carlo Acutis was only 15 when he died of leukemia nearly two decades ago. But he had led the kind of holy life that set him apart from young people, Salzano said May 29 to a nearly full chapel at the University of Mount Saint Vincent in the Bronx.
She hopes his life can inspire others to develop their faith at a time when religion, including the Catholic Church, has been waning among young people.
"Each one of you is special, remember," she told hundreds of congregants, including students. "God loves you infinitely and, really, you can be the light of the world."
Acutis is set to be canonized by United States-born Pope Leo XIV as the first millennial saint.
Salzano, who is Italian but whose grandmother was born in New York, is touring America to spread messages about her son's life to younger audiences.
She spent the afternoon of May 29 visiting Mount Saint Vincent's and Manhattan's St. Patrick's Cathedral, the seat of New York's archdiocese. That is, when she wasn't stuck in New York City's infamous traffic.
Acutis' holiness was visible in his daily life, Salzano told Mount Saint Vincent's parishioners, in his devotion to attending Mass and studying the eucharist, as well as in how he treated others.
Salzano, who would go on to study theology to better understand her son, said she was simply a witness to this.
"Of course, I'm not a saint," she told USA TODAY after the Mass. "I only have this role."
Acutis died in 2006. Ever since, people have reported miracles after praying to him, including a Costa Rican woman cured from a severe brain hemorrhage in 2022, and a Brazilian boy whose pancreatic malformation disappeared in 2013. These documented cases propelled his sainthood.
In 2020, Pope Francis beatified him, giving him the title of 'Blessed.' The College of Cardinals in July 2024 voted to canonize Acutis. He was set to officially become a saint on April 27 at the Jubilee of Teenagers, but Francis' death six days earlier led to a postponement. Acutis' canonization is now expected later this year.
Mount Saint Vincent's Rev. William Cain admitted to parishioners before Salzano arrived that he had had trouble writing that day's homily.
'What might be holier than a saint?' Cain, a Jesuit priest, quipped. 'The mother of the saint.'
Who was Carlo Acutis?
Initially a mostly nonreligious woman, Salzano acknowledged her son was special.
Acutis, born in London in 1991, began saying the rosary daily at around 5-and-a-half years old. At 7, he had his first first communion.
His friends looked to him for guidance and support, and he stood up to bullies who picked on students with disabilities, Catholic news outlets reported.
At home, his mother said he'd reflect each night: What did I do today? How did I behave ‒ with classmates, teacher, parents?
Much of this is known, Salzano said, because he took lengthy notes as a boy. He wanted to win the battle of original sin that humans are born into, she said, echoing something her son would repeat: 'All of us are born original, but many of us die as photocopies.'
A computer lover, he created a website about eucharistic miracles: the bread that exemplifies the body of Christ, becoming actual flesh, which Acutis chronicled of cases in Argentina in the 1990s; or, as he described, wine turning into blood, such as in Croatia in 1411.
Acutis loved video games. But to discipline himself, he limited himself to one hour per week.
Also every week, he went to confession. This purified him of sins that typically weigh on people, Salzano said.
From 'Blessed' to forthcoming saint
Scores of clergy and laypeople clamored inside the university's chapel to take pictures with Salzano and shake her hand.
Young girls who wore braids and plaid skirts – telltale signs of Catholic school attendance – cued up. So too did boys, in burgundy polos and khakis flagging their religious school bona fides.
Seated toward the back of the chapel, Clare Fay, 25, donned beige Adidas Gazelles and carried a tote.
'There are still saints today,' said Fay, originally from Alabama and a recruitment associate for a Catholic education nonprofit that sends teachers to Catholic schools across the country.
Salzano spoke on Ascension Day, the Christian holiday when Jesus Christ is believed to have risen to heaven. 'It's not coincidental,' Kentucky native Troy Lasley, 30, a teaching fellow in the Bronx, noted. 'We would call that providential.'
Fewer younger Americans, including Catholics, describe themselves as religious, polling shows. Pope Francis sought to bring the church to the people, especially younger people disaffected by scandal and abuse. Acutis personified that effort.
'When we look at the stories of saints, we don't necessarily see ourselves. The youth don't necessarily see themselves,' said Susan Burns, president of the University of Mount Saint Vincent and a psychologist, standing near the altar. 'To have a saint who is a millennial, very much, can speak to their stories.'
Seeing the mother of a saint might help people explore their faith. Salzano said her son is a sign of hope for others.
At the end of her speech, Salzano gifted the university a relic containing a piece of Acutis' hair. She handed out prayer cards depicting his image to hundreds of attendees.
One woman sobbed seeing Salzano. Later, she told USA TODAY her daughter was living with a brain aneurysm. Seeing the woman whose son had helped someone with a similar condition seemed like a sign from God. She prayed to Acutis for her daughter.
Salzano rushed out of the chapel as more people swarmed her. A car drove her through rush hour traffic, to speak at St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Across Gotham, she'd tell others about her saintly son.
Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at emcuevas1@ or on Signal at emcuevas.01.
