Pope Leo XIV on Sunday canonized 15-year-old computer whiz Carlo Acutis, declaring him the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint and hailing him as a model for young people navigating the digital age.
The open-air Mass at St. Peter’s Square drew an estimated 80,000 faithful, many of them millennials and families with young children. It was the first canonization Mass of Leo’s pontificate, during which he also declared Pier Giorgio Frassati, a young Italian known for his devotion to the poor, a saint.
“Both created masterpieces of their lives by dedicating themselves to God,” Pope Leo said in his homily. “The greatest risk in life is to waste it outside of God’s plan. These new saints invite us, especially the young, not to squander our lives, but to raise them upwards and make them masterpieces,” Leo added.
Born in London in 1991 and raised in Milan, Acutis combined a deep love for technology with an intense devotion to the Catholic faith. Nicknamed “God’s Influencer,” he created a multilingual website documenting Eucharistic miracles, a project that was groundbreaking at the time and continues to inspire Catholics worldwide.
Though fascinated by computers, Acutis limited himself to one hour of video games per week, prioritizing prayer and human connection over screen time. His discipline and devotion, church leaders say, make him an antidote to the challenges of today’s tech-driven culture.
Acutis died of acute leukemia in October 2006 at age 15 and was entombed in Assisi, where pilgrims have since flocked to venerate his body, displayed in jeans, sneakers, and a sweatshirt.
His canonization had been advanced by Pope Francis, who died in April. Francis had strongly backed Acutis’ cause, convinced that the church needed a modern saint who could speak to young Catholics in a digital world.
For many, Acutis’ appeal lies in his ordinariness. “It’s like I can maybe not be as great as Carlo, but I can look after him and ask, ‘What would Carlo do?’” said Leo Kowalsky, an eighth grader from Chicago whose school is named after the new saint.
Matthew Schmalz, a professor of religious studies at Holy Cross College in Massachusetts, said Acutis embodies how Catholics can live faithfully in a digital era. “He becomes a model of how to approach the digital world, with discipline and a focus on spirituality that defies time,” Schmalz noted.
The Vatican reported that 36 cardinals, 270 bishops, and hundreds of priests joined Pope Leo for the canonization, underscoring Acutis’ wide resonance among clergy and laity alike.
Frassati, the other figure canonized, was born in 1901 into a prominent Turin family and died of polio at 24. He became renowned for his charity work and steadfast faith, leaving behind a legacy of service.
As the Mass concluded, pilgrims from across the world celebrated the arrival of a saint many see as one of their own: a tech-savvy teenager whose faith and simplicity shine brightly in a complex digital age.
