Introduction

From the foreword by Cardinal Angelo Comastri:

“To always be close to Jesus, that’s my life plan”.With these few words Carlo Acutis, the boy who died of leukaemia, outlines the distinguishing feature of his brief existence: to live with Jesus, for Jesus, and in Jesus. (…)“I'm happy to die because I've lived my life without wasting even a minute of it doing things that wouldn't have pleased God”. Carlo also asks the same thing of us - to emulate the Gospel with our life, so that we can be a beacon lighting the way for others.
 

From the foreword by The Most Reverend Bishop Michelangelo M. Tiribilli:

A teenager of our time like many others, going to school and seeing his friends, and an expert for his age in computers. His encounter with Jesus Christ fitted into all of this.
Carlo Acutis is witness to the Resurrection, he places his trust in the Virgin Mary, lives a life of grace, and tells his contemporaries about his incredible experience with God.
He goes to Mass and takes Communion every day and passes hours in front of the Blessed Sacrament. His Christian development and experience bear witness to the truth in the words of Pope Benedict XVI's Apostolic Exhortation, Sacramentum Caritatis: “The Sacrifice of Mass and Eucharistic adoration corroborate, support and develop love for Jesus and willingness for ecclesiastic service”.
Carlo is also devoted to Our Lady, faithfully says his Rosary and dedicates his devotions to her as his beloved Mother.
In sociological terms this boy is the same as his school friends, and bears out the fact that the Gospel can also be experienced fully by an adolescent.
His brief existence, reaching out with the aim of encountering Jesus, was like a beacon lighting the way not only of anyone who met him on their path, but also of those people yet to know his story. I am more than confident that this first biography of Carlo Acutis by Nicola Gori, with its recognisable descriptive ability, will help today's adolescents, who have so many issues and are so heavily influenced by the mass media, to reflect on their life and evangelic values as a way of fulfilment.

By looking at this adolescent as one of them and as someone who was captivated by the the love of Christ, which enabled him to experience pure joy, these teenagers will be in contact with an experience of life that doesn't take anything away from the richness of their teenage years, but which actually makes them more valuable.
The evangelical testimony of Carlo doesn't just provide inspiration for today's adolescents, it also encourages priests and teachers to ask themselves about the validity of the teaching they provide for the teenagers in our parishes, and how to make this teaching effective and profound.