Pope Leo XIV canonized 15-year-old Carlo Acutis as the first millennial saint who is nicknamed “God’s influencer” for using technology to spread faith.
The pontiff made the announcement at an open-air Mass in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday millennial saint, according to the Associated Press.
Why It Matters
The fast-tracked canonization of Acutis is being presented by Vatican leaders and supporters as a contemporary model of holiness since he combined ordinary teenage life with a disciplined Catholic devotion and the use of technology to promote Eucharistic devotion.
Acutis’ canonization marks a deliberate Vatican effort to present contemporary, relatable holy figures who can speak to younger generations about faith lived in the digital age.
What To Know
Acutis was born May 3, 1991, in London and raised in Milan; he died of acute leukemia in October 2006 at age 15.
He taught himself programming as a child and created websites for Catholic causes, most notably an online catalog of claimed Eucharistic miracles that circulated widely and has been displayed on multiple continents.
Acutis’ tomb in Assisi—his body displayed in a wax replica and dressed in casual clothes and sneakers—has become a major pilgrimage site, and relics associated with him have toured internationally.
During the first saint-making Mass of his pontificate, Leo also canonized another popular Italian figure who died young, Pier Giorgio Frassati.
He was born in 1901 into a prominent family in Turin and died of polio at age 24. He is remembered for his dedication to helping the poor, his charitable acts, and sharing his Catholic faith with friends.
What People Are Saying
Pope Leo XIV said in his homily at the canonization Mass: “The greatest risk in life is to waste it outside of God’s plan.” He added that new saints new saints “are an invitation to all of us, especially young people, not to squander our lives, but to direct them upwards and make them masterpieces.”
Matthew Schmalz, professor of religious studies at Holy Cross college in Worcester, Massachusetts, said, per the AP: “He becomes an emblem or model of how Catholics should approach and use the digital world—with discipline and with a focus on traditional Catholic spirituality that defies the passage of time. He is a new saint of simplicity for the ever complex digital landscape of contemporary Catholicism.”
What Happens Next?
With canonization, Acutis may be named a patron for youth and for digital evangelization initiatives; churches and schools can be dedicated to him and his relics may continue to travel, boosting pilgrimages and devotion among young Catholics worldwide.
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