Relic of the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint stolen from Venezuelan parish

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A relic of Carlo Acutis, who was declared the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint final week, was stolen from a parish in western Venezuela, the coordinator of a youth group dedicated to the person referred to as “God’s Influencer” confirmed Friday.

The disappearance of the relic – a small, round piece of material – was reported on Sept. 9 by workers on the Santo Domingo de Guzmán parish in Cardenal Quintero municipality in Mérida state, stated Adrián García, coordinator of the San Carlo Acutis Youth Group.

“To date, there’s no info; it’s nonetheless lacking,” García stated Friday. “We think about God that it’s going to seem. It has nice non secular worth.”

The relic, which was housed in a glass reliquary, disappeared simply two days after Pope Leo XIV declared Acutis a saint. The 15-year-old laptop knowledgeable, who used know-how to unfold the religion, is taken into account a task mannequin for the subsequent era of Catholics.

The material is a “third-degree relic,” that are often objects which have been touched by the saint.

Police are investigating its disappearance, the parish stated.

The Catholic Church has beforehand denounced the net sale of Carlo Acutis’ relics.

Acutis was named “venerable” in 2018. He was then declared “blessed” in 2020 after the Vatican’s saint-making workplace declared {that a} youngster in Brazil who recovered from a pancreatic deformation was “scientifically inexplicable” and a miracle attributed to Acutis’ intercession.

Leo canonized Acutis, who died of leukemia in 2006, on Sept. 7 throughout an open-air Mass in St. Peter’s Sq. earlier than an estimated 80,000 folks.

Acutis was born on Might 3, 1991, in London to a rich household who moved again to Milan, Italy. He earned the nickname “God’s Influencer,” due to his principal tech legacy: a multilingual web site documenting so-called Eucharistic miracles acknowledged by the church.

It is not uncommon for relics to be despatched to church buildings in varied nations. On this case, the Venezuelan youth group had requested the relic when Acutis was declared blessed, a step previous to sainthood.