Just like a typical teenager, Carlo Acutis, the newly canonized saint of the millennium, wore blue jeans and sneakers, usually paired with a t-shirt in a bright color.

In his right hand, he carried a video camera, the better to record miracles, especially miracles centered around the Eucharist, and in his left hand he clasped a rosary. When he was home, he would sit in front of his computer, allowing the internet to help him be a fisher of men, just like the first apostles of Christ, who used their fishing nets to catch followers.

St. Carlo Acutis, beatified on Oct. 10, 2020 and canonized last Sept.7, a millennial true and through, has a following in the Philippines, proof of which is that a relic – a lock of his hair – has been going around some of our parishes and schools, one of them being the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila. How many teenagers do you know who would create a website centering on the Holy Eucharist? Truly, a millennial milestone!

Born on May 3, 1991 in London, England, to a well-to-do family, the good-looking Carlo was a cheerful boy even when he suffered from leukemia. That sunny disposition amid the pain somehow influenced and led to the conversion of his own mother, who had been described as a “lapsed” Catholic.

Carlo died on Oct. 11, 2006, in Monza, Italy. Among his early miracles was one that was reported in Brazil.

Meanwhile, in Manila, a miracle is needed to overcome the bad news that the Asian Breast Center in Makati, the Philippines’ “only specialized ambulatory breast center facility,” has shut down. Eight years after Dr. Norman San Agustin gave up a flourishing career in New Jersey because “I wanted to make a difference here,” the reality is that red tape, high costs, and a “misaligned health system” have conspired to kill the best intentions of the oncologist and his benefactors, including a lady who injected ₱30 million to keep the program going.

Breast cancer kills proportionately more women in the Philippines than in the US (with a population thrice as big). It’s a double tragedy that, to quote Dr. San Agustin, “We’re equal to some of the best hospitals in America – only far more affordable.”