Saint Carlo Acutis' use of social media to spread God's word should serve as an example to all of us, film producer Eduardo Verastegui told Newsmax on Monday.
On Sunday, Pope Leo XIV officially proclaimed Acutis — who died of leukemia in 2006 at age 15 — as the Catholic Church's first millennial saint.
Acutis has been dubbed "God's Influencer" for his efforts to spread the Catholic faith online.
"We're talking about a 15-year-old kid who was using internet not for vanity or for pride, but to spread the love of Christ and the devotion to the Holy Eucharist," Verastegui said on Newsmax's "National Report." "That's amazing. You know, today we can use social media to do the same thing. Not for pride, not for vanity, but to spread the love of Christ. And we need that. We need to put God in the center of our lives so we can be free. That's true freedom.
"You know, true freedom is not to do whatever you want, but to do the right thing according to God's will in your life. And that's what we need to do every day."
Co-host Shaun Kraisman asked Verastegui about using social media to reach young people.
"It's important to understand that what Mother Teresa said, for example, another saint and, you know, what does it mean to be a saint? They are our older brothers and sisters in the faith," Verastegui said. "If we hang out with them, we can learn so much from them. So she said, Mother Teresa, we are not called to be successful. We are called to be faithful to God. That is our success.
"Now if by being faithful to God, success comes, it's a blessing. Use that success to change the world. But if it doesn't come, don't compromise your faith. Don't compromise your integrity, your values in order to obtain what the world thinks success is. Because that success doesn't come from God.
"So these, you know, these are important messages that we need to use social media to send this message to the young people so we can touch the hearts of millions of young people."
Leo also canonized another popular Italian figure who died young, Pier Giorgio Frassati, who lived from 1901-25. He died at age 24 of polio.
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Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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