In 2002, at the age of just 11, Carlo was gripped by a desire to share his enthusiasm with the world.
Mrs Salzano said: “We went to the Meeting of Rimini (a large Catholic festival held in August every year), and he saw a lot of exhibitions but he didn’t see anything that really convinced him. At that exhibition he had the idea to do something about the Eucharist.
“For him it was important to speak about these miracles, because Jesus performed Eucharistic miracles.
“These miracles can help people to understand the faith so Carlo was frustrated, in a way, because he didn’t hear… priests speaking about these things.
“He believed, if Jesus has shown us these signs, we should be involved in speaking about them and not ignoring them.”
Fortunately, his mother was involved in a charity which brought her into contact with many clergy and she put her son in touch with people who helped him set up an exhibition, using his computer skills, on some of history’s claimed miracles.
It was finally realised in 2005, Pope John Paul II’s the Year of the Eucharist.
But he then went further and set up an internet site, listing the miracles, which has since been translated into many of the world’s most widely spoken languages.
His mother says its impact has been significant, with visitor numbers in the tens of thousands.
“Through the internet and press agencies, it was spread around the world, it was incredible,” she said.
“It continues to this day and helps people understand the dogma of the real presence of God in the Eucharist.”
Later, Mrs Salzano said, the Vatican themselves cited Carlo’s exhibition in a documentary it made about one of the most recent “miracles”.
Before the death of Pope Francis, the pontiff said in a book about young people and faith that Carlo was an example of someone who was aware of the potentially corrupting nature of the internet, but chose to use the new technology to pass on the word of God.
According to the biography on his official website, he designed his life to be a computer “program” to be “united with Jesus”.
It was something his mother saw daily.
As well as doing many of the same things as a typical teenager, like playing the saxophone, football and making home movies of his cats and dogs, he would help teach children about religion, help them with their homework and volunteer in a soup kitchen, as well as use the web to seek the conversion of others.
“He used to say ‘All are born originals, many die as photocopies’, this was his famous phrase. ‘The Eucharist is my highway to heaven’,” added Mrs Salzano.
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