Catholic archbishop in Belarus blesses AI-generated icon of Carlo Acutis, the Italian teenager known as the internet’s patron saint
Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, the former head of the Catholic Church in Belarus, blessed an AI-generated icon on October 11, the Belarusian outlet Katolik.life reported.
On October 11, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, once head of the Catholic Church in Belarus, blessed an AI-generated icon of Carlo Acutis at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Novolukoml, reported the Belarusian outlet Katolik.life. The image depicts the Italian teenager who was canonized by the Vatican a year ago. However, believers criticized the blessing on social media, asserting that an AI-generated image cannot be deemed an icon.
This was the first time an AI-generated icon had been blessed in Belarus, according to Katolik.life. Meduza found no information about similar images blessed in other countries, including Russia. Carlo Acutis, an Italian teenager, became a teenager who embraced faith from a young age. He learned to code and developed websites for Catholic organizations and created a website documenting miracles across the globe.
Acutis passed away from leukemia in 2006 at the age of 15. The Vatican canonized him in 2025, calling him the “patron saint of the internet” and the first millennial saint.
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