New teen saint-to-be, Carlo Acutis, maps highway to heaven in documentary
April 22, 2025
A screengrab of the film “Carlo Acutis: Roadmap to Reality” shows a prayer image of the young Italian teen who is set to be canonized at some point this year. The new documentary includes interviews with those who knew the teen personally, including his mother, Antonia, and father, Andrea Acutis, other relatives and friends, and clergy. The film will be in most major theaters April 27 through 29. (Photo courtesy of Castletown Media)
HOUSTON — The theatrical release of a fast-moving documentary on Carlo Acutis, the first millennial teen saint, opens April 27 through 29 with a Texas twist.
The 15-year-old computer programmer, who died from leukemia in 2006, is often referred to as “God’s Influencer.” The teen created websites cataloging Eucharistic and Marian miracles around the world to evangelize by harnessing the internet.
Originally set to be canonized April 27, the death of Pope Francis has prompted the Vatican to postpone Blessed Acutis' canonization.
The film, “Carlo Acutis: Roadmap to Reality,” highlights interviews with those who knew the teen personally, including his mother, Antonia, and father, Andrea Acutis, other relatives and friends, and clergy.
His mother recounted her return to faith through Carlo’s witness. She quoted her son saying, “The Eucharist is my highway to Heaven.”
The film also follows a group of 150 Catholic high school students from North Dakota as they participate in the University of Mary’s pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi. Their interviews shared teen anxiety, isolation issues, and over-dependence on social media and technology. They worry when their cell phones have to be left behind, and they can only use a camera to document their pilgrimage.
“To see someone my age become a saint,” says a female student in the film after praying at the tomb of Carlo, where his preserved body wears an athletic jacket, jeans and Nike sneakers, “I started crying.”
The documentary’s director, Tim Moriarty, said in a report, “Our primary audience is young people who face mental and spiritual challenges driven by excessive screen time and digital overload.” That mindset is what brought the Texas angle with the C3 Foundation within the Diocese of Beaumont, approaching producer Jim Wahlberg and Castletown Media to create a feature-length documentary about the first millennial saint. C3 Foundation is a sponsor of Christ Central Camp, established for the youth of the Diocese of Beaumont in 2023.
Moriarty said, “Bishop David Toups (of Beaumont), who has a deep devotion to Blessed Carlo Acutis, named the camp’s chapel in his honor.” This also led to the foundation’s request to produce this film “inspired by Blessed Carlo’s witness and driven by a desire to help young people navigate the modern world’s challenges while striving for holiness.”
Two miracles were recognized by the Catholic Church and attributed to the intercession of Carlo Acutis, paving the way for his canonization. The first involved the healing of a young Brazilian boy suffering from pancreatic disease when his mother prayed and touched him with a photo of Acutis. The second miracle involved the recovery of a Costa Rican woman who suffered a brain hemorrhage with little chance of survival after a bicycle accident whose condition miraculously improved after her mother’s prayers to Acutis at his tomb in Assisi.
However, a bit of a jarring transition in the documentary is its insertion of social media research and its impact on youth. Instead, comparing the philosophy of Plato’s Cave may make more sense. The allegory starts with people in caves staring into their lit fires and watching the shadows of flames flickering across the cave walls and thinking it showed reality. The modern fake images on computers, cell phones and other artificial intelligence technology now warp current reality.
Moriarty explains, “Carlo’s life provides a roadmap away from the distractions of the virtual world to the real world, especially through his devotion to the Eucharist — his ‘Highway to Heaven’ leaving the confines of the computer and entering the infinity of Christ.”
In theaters April 27 through 29, the trailer states, “In a world losing itself to screens, teenage mystic Carlo Acutis saw beyond the social media-addicted society we live in and offered an answer… if we’re willing to listen.”
To find movie theaters with times and tickets online, visit www.carloacutisfilm.com/buy-ticket.