By Enrique Villegas

Copyright zenit

(ZENIT News / Merida, Venezuela, 09.16.2025).- Only days after Pope Leo XIV formally declared Carlo Acutis a saint in a Mass on September 7, the Church in Venezuela was shaken by the disappearance of a relic linked to the young “God’s Influencer.”

The missing object, a small piece of cloth kept in a glass reliquary at Santo Domingo de Guzmán parish in the Andean state of Mérida, was reported stolen on September 9. It had been entrusted to the parish by a local youth group devoted to Acutis, whose life and digital witness have inspired Catholics across continents.

For those closest to the relic, its loss is not about material value. “It has a great spiritual significance,” said Adrián García, coordinator of the San Carlo Acutis Youth Group, who confirmed that police are investigating. He added, with quiet hope, “We believe it will be found.”

The timing of the theft has only deepened the sense of grief. The relic disappeared two days after Acutis’ canonization in St. Peter’s Square, where more than 80,000 faithful gathered to celebrate the teenager who used the internet to proclaim the beauty of the Eucharist. His website documenting Eucharistic miracles remains his best-known legacy, earning him the nickname “God’s Influencer.”

Relics of newly canonized saints often circulate worldwide, sent to parishes and shrines that request them as devotional aids. The Venezuelan youth group had secured this relic back when Acutis was beatified in 2020, after a miraculous healing in Brazil was attributed to his intercession.

Yet the veneration of Acutis has not been without controversy. The Catholic Church has already warned against the online trade of his relics, reminding the faithful that such items are not collectibles but instruments of prayer. The theft in Mérida risks feeding precisely the kind of illicit market the Vatican has tried to curb.

Carlo Acutis, born in London in 1991 and raised in Milan, died of leukemia at just 15. His short life, marked by deep piety and a passion for technology, has made him a patron figure for young Catholics searching for holiness in a digital age. For the parishioners of Santo Domingo de Guzmán, the relic’s absence is more than a loss; it is a wound to their connection with a saint whose story resonates with their own struggles.

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