AI-ASSISTED ICON OF "CYBER APOSTLE" BLESSED

NOVOLOKOML, OCTOBER 14 /SRNA/ - An icon created with the help of artificial intelligence depicting the newly canonized Catholic saint Carlo Acutis has been blessed at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in the town of Novolokoml, in what could be the first such ceremonial blessing in the world.

"Today, we enter the world through the internet. What are we looking for there? Holiness? Not always," Archbishop Emeritus Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz said after blessing the icon during Sunday Mass.

The icon depicts Carlo Acutis, an Italian teenager and devout Catholic who used the internet to spread the faith and was canonized by the Pope last year.

He is shown holding a laptop and a rosary, with a golden sun on his chest and a spiral staircase transforming into a path to heaven. The artwork was created with the help of artificial intelligence and other digital tools.

Acutis was born in London in 1991 and grew up in Milan. He became known as the "cyber apostle" and "God’s influencer". He created websites promoting Catholicism, including a catalogue of purported Eucharistic miracles, and is also credited with helping several people convert to the faith.

He died of leukemia in 2006 at the age of 15 and became the youngest saint when head of the Roman Catholic Church Pope Leo XIV canonized him in September last year.