# Can people still become Saints? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 8, 2015, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-still-become-saints/714541 "2015-03-08T17:39:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-still-become-saints/714541/61 "2024-07-07T22:14:17Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I want to know about “internet miracles”. Also, he spread the word about the Catholic Church via computer in the '80s? Spread it to _who?_ What areas of the world was he reaching via computer that had yet to find out about the Catholic Church? Where did you see reference to the '80s? The NPR article says he was born in 1991. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-still-become-saints/714541/62 "2024-07-07T22:16:43Z")
I don’t know where I got that either. Never mind that part, please. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-still-become-saints/714541/63 "2024-07-07T22:19:48Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > They list one of his major accomplishments as creating a Web page documenting Eucharistic miracles… but the article doesn’t include a link to that webpage. He died in 2006, so the page probably isn’t around anymore. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > "Acutis’ body was exhumed in 2019 and [transferred to a shrine](https://www.ncregister.com/cna/carlo-acutis-what-did-he-die-of-and-where-is-he-buried) at the Church of St. Mary Major, the very spot where Saint Francis is said to have shed his luxurious clothing for a habit by way of renouncing his wealth. > > It remains on display in a glass case, wearing blue jeans, an athletic zip-up and Nike sneakers." If you think that’s wild, check out what the Church did with Mary Magdalene’s (alleged) skull. [![](https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/1200/https://media.snopes.com/2024/06/mary_magdalene_featured.jpg) ](https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/1200/https://media.snopes.com/2024/06/mary_magdalene_featured.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-still-become-saints/714541/64 "2024-07-07T22:25:08Z")
Also, in regard to the “healing miracles” that are credited to him: the way those typically work in the Catholic Church is that there is someone who is ill, and that person (and/or others, on that person’s behalf) prays that the deceased potential saint might “intercede” with God to provide healing to the person. The Church has people who investigate claims of such miracles, and document them as part of the process of considering a candidate for canonization. The NPR article contains a link to information about one of Acutis’s miracles – essentially, a boy who had been born with a defective pancreas prayed to Acutis for intercession, and his condition rapidly improved after this. > **[Carlo Acutis could become the first millennial saint. Here’s the story behind...](https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/11/20/blessed-carlo-acutis-saint-relics-millennial-miracle)** > > Informally called “patron of the internet” for having published stories of Eucharistic miracles online, Blessed Carlo Acutis is now admired by thousands of Brazilians, young and old. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-still-become-saints/714541/65 "2024-07-07T22:27:02Z")
OMG! That could be a new Doctor Who baddie! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-still-become-saints/714541/66 "2024-07-07T22:31:11Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > He died in 2006, so the page probably isn’t around anymore. I dunno… A website that’s so great that it makes its creator worthy of canonization, you’d think someone would have taken over curating it, or at least mirrored it. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-still-become-saints/714541/67 "2024-07-07T22:33:08Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > A website that’s so great that it makes its creator worthy of canonization, you’d think someone would have taken over curating it, or at least mirrored it. I probably should’ve Googled it first, 'cause it was the first hit when I searched for “St Carlo website”. [http://www.miracolieucaristici.org/en/Liste/list.html](http://www.miracolieucaristici.org/en/Liste/list.html) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-still-become-saints/714541/68 "2024-07-07T22:37:00Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > That could be a new Doctor Who baddie! I was thinking WH40K myself. “Here rests in honored glory the blessed remains of an Adeptus Astartes who personally lasted seventeen seconds in single combat against the Legions of Chaos”. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-still-become-saints/714541/69 "2024-07-07T22:38:52Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > :eek: What??? The Church now questions whether there is a Santa Claus? The origin story of Santa Claus (Saint Nikolas) was that of St.Nicholas of Myra (now in Turkey), an early Christian bishop during the Roman era. Many miracles were attributed to him, and a folklore built up around him, particularly his penchant for secret gift-giving. There’s no question he existed. The right jolly old elf in a flying sleigh was invented in the 19th century. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-still-become-saints/714541/70 "2024-07-07T22:41:09Z")
Here’s St. Carlo’s reliquary, BTW. Not quite as fancy as Ms. Magdalene’s. [![](https://publisher-ncreg.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/pb-ncregister/swp/hv9hms/media/20240528150512_635edde983c7bd0427560d08705f9bc506daa2bc4bc14ad50078d911ac6d542a.jpg) ](https://publisher-ncreg.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/pb-ncregister/swp/hv9hms/media/20240528150512_635edde983c7bd0427560d08705f9bc506daa2bc4bc14ad50078d911ac6d542a.jpg) [![](https://wp.en.aleteia.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/10/carlo-acutis-body-tomb-5.jpeg) ](https://wp.en.aleteia.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/10/carlo-acutis-body-tomb-5.jpeg) He looks better than Lenin, at least. His heart is apparently stored separately in a more ornate container. [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/Reliquary_with_the_heart_of_Carlo_Acutis.jpg/800px-Reliquary_with_the_heart_of_Carlo_Acutis.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/Reliquary_with_the_heart_of_Carlo_Acutis.jpg/800px-Reliquary_with_the_heart_of_Carlo_Acutis.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-still-become-saints/714541/71 "2024-07-07T22:44:52Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > He looks better than Lenin, at least. And Lenin wasn’t dug up 12 years later then put on display. That body isn’t make-up. That body is _made_-up. > [@Smapti](#): > > His heart is apparently stored separately in a more ornate container. Not after 10 years underground. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-still-become-saints/714541/72 "2024-07-07T22:51:12Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Not after 10 years underground > **[Incorruptibility](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorruptibility)** > > Incorruptibility is a Catholic and Orthodox belief that divine intervention allows some human bodies (specifically saints and beati) to completely or partially avoid the normal process of decomposition after death as a sign of their holiness. > Incorruptibility is thought to occur even in the presence of factors which normally hasten decomposition, as in the cases of saints Catherine of Genoa, Julie Billiart and Francis Xavier. > In Catholicism, if a body is judged as incorruptible after death, thi... ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-still-become-saints/714541/73 "2024-07-07T23:02:59Z")
As alluded to in the above article, Pope John XXIII’s body was dug up 50 years later and is in fairly good shape due to its being embalmed and interred in an airtight coffin. [![](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/03/popr.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=744) ](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/03/popr.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=744) [![](https://live.staticflickr.com/3186/2725372187_58c37bcb76_b.jpg) ](https://live.staticflickr.com/3186/2725372187_58c37bcb76_b.jpg) Depending on the circumstances and conditions of burial, it’s not impossible for the body to remain intact for a surprisingly long time. If there was already thought that Carlo might have been a candidate for beatification, they might have gone ahead and taken some extra steps at the time to keep the body intact. Mystical incorruptibility is nonsense, but science can be pretty neat sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-still-become-saints/714541/74 "2024-07-07T23:31:01Z")
For what it’s worth, 13 people have been canonized as saints by the Roman Catholic Church during the past three years (twelve of the thirteen in 2022). Of those thirteen, eight lived during the 20th Century. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2024, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-still-become-saints/714541/75 "2024-07-08T00:22:04Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > (twelve of the thirteen in 2022) For whatever reason, they tend to do canonizations in batches. It makes the administrative overhead easier, maybe? Or maybe the Pope just likes organizing his workload that way: “This month I’m going to focus on canonizations”. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2024, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-still-become-saints/714541/76 "2024-07-08T00:26:34Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > For whatever reason, they tend to do canonizations in batches. It makes the administrative overhead easier, maybe? I’m going to guess that it makes for a big, ornate, celebratory ceremony. Most of the decisions on canonization were likely made months prior (if not longer). ---
**Author:** ![EnolaStraight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@EnolaStraight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnolaStraight)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2024, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-still-become-saints/714541/77 "2024-07-11T01:22:55Z")
A distant cousin-in-law of mine is up for canonization: [Sainthood cause for paralyzed priest officially gets under way – Catholic Philly](https://catholicphilly.com/2017/04/news/local-news/sainthood-cause-for-paralyzed-priest-officially-gets-under-way/) [Father Bill Atkinson canonization cause completes first phase, moves onto Rome | Catholic News Agency](https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/249367/father-bill-atkinson-canonization-cause-completes-first-phase-moves-onto-rome) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-still-become-saints/714541.md?page=3)