FACT-CHECK: Body of Blessed Carlo Acutis not incorruptible

CLAIM: The body of Carlo Acutis was found intact and incorruptible 10 years after  burial 

RATING: FALSE

A Facebook page made the false claim that the body of a recently beatified Italian teenage boy was found incorrupt 10 years after his burial.

“Breaking News!!! The tomb of #CarloAcutis was opened this morning in Assisi after the Holy Mass officiated by the Bishop of the Diocese. The body of Carlo Acutis was found intact and incorruptible after 10 years of burial and has been put on public display for the glory of God!,” claimed the post made on Aug. 8, 2023.

According to the Vatican’s official website, Carlo Acutis was born on May 3, 1991 in London, England, and died in Monza, Italy on Oct. 26, 2006. A miracle attributed to his intercession was approved by Pope Francis on Feb. 22, 2020.  He was beatified on Oct. 10, 2020.

Part of the beatification process is to exhume and authenticate the remains of the candidate for sainthood as was done in the case of Acutis.

The Vatican has laid out a detailed instruction on how the mortal remains of a candidate for sainthood are handled, including the exhumation of the body. 

The 2017 Instruction “Relics in the Church: Authenticity and Preservation” details the canonical procedure “to follow in order to verify the authenticity of relics and mortal remains, to guarantee their preservation and to promote the veneration of relics through the possible specific procedures: canonical recognition, extraction of fragments and creation of relics, translation of the urn and alienation of relics.” 

In Acutis’ case, his body was exhumed on Jan. 24, 2019, which was 13 years after his death.

After the exhumation, the official website of the cause Acutis’ canonization warned the public against passing any judgment on the state of the body’s preservation. 

The Catholic News Agency reported that a spokeswoman for Acutis’ beatification said the entire body was present, but “not incorrupt.”

“Today we … see him again in his mortal body. A body that has passed, in the years of burial in Assisi, through the normal process of decay, which is the legacy of the human condition after sin has removed it from God, the source of life. But this mortal body is destined for resurrection,” Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino of Assisi was quoted by the same CNA report.  

Fr. Carlos Acácio Gonçalves Ferreira, the rector of the shrine where Acutis’ tomb is located,  said the boy’s body was “discovered to be fully integral, not intact, but integral, having all its organs” and that “[w]ork was done on his face.” — Rommel F. Lopez

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