Press Kit

Sacred Steps was born on a hiking trail in northern Italy. Three friends, descending from the breathtaking Santuario Madonna della Corona—a sanctuary carved into a sheer cliff face above Lake Garda—found themselves discussing the churches they'd visited over their lifetimes. How many had they been to? They couldn't remember.

Names had blurred together. Locations were lost in camera rolls. The stories they'd heard from local parishioners had faded. That evening, one of the founders began coding. By the time they flew home, Sacred Steps had its first prototype.

The app is dedicated to St. Carlo Acutis, a tech-savvy Italian teenager who used his programming skills to document Eucharistic miracles before his death at age 15 in 2006. Carlo believed technology could bring people closer to God—a philosophy that guides Sacred Steps today.

Sacred Steps helps users check in to churches and sacred sites, add personal reflections and photos, earn badges for pilgrimage milestones, discover hidden gems, and visualize their spiritual journey on a personal map. The app currently includes thousands of churches across dozens of countries, with more being added by the community every day.