He might be on the verge of becoming the first millennial saint, but a British-born Italian teenager known as ‘God’s Influencer’ was often more of a prankster than ‘perfect’, according to the affectionate recollections of his former teachers.

Computer genius Carlo Acutis, who passed away from leukemia at the age of 15 in 2006, is set to be canonized by Pope Leo XIV in a solemn event at St Peter’s Square in the Vatican.

The canonization of the London-born youth, originally planned for April but delayed due to the death of Pope Francis, will be broadcast for the faithful on giant screens in Assisi, a historic city and pilgrimage destination in Umbria.

During his brief life, Acutis became deeply devoted to his Catholic beliefs, attended Mass every day, and was known for his kindness towards bullied children and the homeless, to whom he provided meals and sleeping bags.

He tragically succumbed to leukemia in October 2006, but since his passing, two instances of miraculous healing have been credited to Acutis after families sought his intercession in their prayers.

While many now revere him, Acutis was in many other ways a typical teenager ‘with a great zest for life’, his old school teachers have divulged.

‘He was certainly not a perfect student’, Sister Monica Ceroni, religion teacher at the Tommaseo Institute in Milan, told Catholic News Agency. 

Like many others his age, Acutis did not always do his homework – or even show up to class on time. 

Ceroni also recalled his sense of humour and said the teenager was known as a practical joker within the class. 

Meanwhile academically, his report card shows the only subject he did well in was religious studies. 

‘He was someone who liked to be involved in the classroom conversations, especially in religion,’ Ceroni added. 

Sister Miranda Moltedo, former principal of Carlo’s elementary school, remembered Acutis as being ‘cheerful’, but also compassionate.

She recalled how Acutis paid special attention to a boy in the class who had been abandoned by his mother, while also standing up to bullies harrassing another boy with mental disabilities.  

‘I think this ability to be inclusive as an 11- or 12-year-old boy was extraordinary. It was a natural gift of his,’ Ceroni explained.

After graduating from school, Acutis entered the Jesuit-run Leo XIII Institute in Milan.

Father Roberto Gazzaniga, the school’s chaplain, recalled the teenager prayed in the chapel at every opportunity and helped his peers with their homework.

He cared little for material things and when his mother bought new trainers, he asked her to return them and donate the money instead to the poor. 

Gazzaniga said Acutis was additionally very passionate about his faith, but considerate of others’ viewpoints. 

He said: ‘Even in conversations and discussions with his classmates, he was respectful of the positions of others but without renouncing the clear vision of the principles that inspired his Christian life.’ 

Acutis, born in London in 1991 to an Italian mother and a half-English, half-Italian father, had an ardent faith, though his parents were not particularly devout.

He grew up in the northern city of Milan, where he attended mass daily and had a reputation for kindness to bullied children and homeless people, bringing the latter food and sleeping bags.

In Milan, he took care of his parish website and later that of a Vatican-based academy. 

A fan of computer games, Acutis taught himself basic coding and used it to document miracles and other elements of the Catholic faith online. 

Antonia Salzano, his mother, said her son had a ‘special relationship’ with God from an early age, even though her family was not religious.

Aged seven, Acutis wrote: ‘My life plan is to be always close to Jesus’.

It was a commitment he would carry with him throughout his life before it was cut short by cancer of the blood in 2006.

Carlo’s diagnosis with leukaemia in October 2006 came as a horrifying shock.

The disease can take several forms but affects the blood cells in bone marrow.

Symptoms include tiredness, bruising and bleeding, repeated infections and high temperatures, per Blood Cancer UK.

The disease overwhelmingly affects young people. While it is not currently curable, it is possible to treat.

In spite of his diagnosis, Carlo reassured his parents: ‘I’m happy to die because I’ve lived my life without wasting even a minute of it doing things that wouldn’t have pleased God.’

Carlo Acutis died on October 12, 2006.

The Vatican has recognised Acutis as performing two miracles himself since his death – a necessary step on the path to sainthood.

The first was the healing of a Brazilian child suffering from a rare pancreatic malformation, the second the recovery of a Costa Rican student seriously injured in an accident.

In both cases, relatives had prayed for help from the teenager, who was beatified in 2020 by Pope Francis.

Over 800 people will be travelling to Rome on a special train from Assisi for the canonisation of the so-called ‘cyber-apostle’, which begins at 10am (0800 GMT).

It was the London-born teenager’s final wish to be buried in Assisi, the home of his 13th-century idol Saint Francis, who dedicated his life to the care of the poor. 

Canonisation is the result of a long and meticulous process, involving an investigation by the Vatican and specialists who assess whether the obligatory miracles have taken place.

Final approval rests with the pope.

Italian Pier Giorgio Frassati, a mountaineering enthusiast who died in 1925 and was known for his social and spiritual commitment, will also be made a saint on Sunday.

His casket is inscribed with the words ‘Verso l’alto’ (‘To the heights’), a phrase he wrote on a photograph taken of him looking up to the summit while mountaineering.

An engineering student who made it his mission to serve the poor and sick of his city, he was held up by the Church as a model of charity after his death of polio aged 24.

He was beatified by John Paul II in 1990.

The Vatican recognised the necessary second miracle to put him on the path to sainthood in 2024, with the unexplained healing of a young American man in a coma.

Sunday’s canonisation ceremony will be Pope Leo XIV’s first since his election in May.

It falls during the Jubilee, a Catholic ‘Holy Year’ which has already drawn over 24 million people to Rome, according to the Vatican.