Carlo Acutis, a tech-savvy Italian teenager who died in 2006, has become the first Catholic saint to have lived in the 21st century, canonised on Sunday at the Vatican by Pope Leo XIV in front of tens of thousands of worshippers.
Under bright sunshine, at least 50,000 people, according to Vatican police, gathered in St. Peter’s Square. Many of them, particularly young people, waved flags from their countries or carried photos of the young saint in his iconic red polo shirt.
During a solemn Mass, Pope Leo XIV, an American, recited the canonisation formula in Latin, with Carlo Acutis’s family, including his mother and brother, present. The announcement was greeted with applause from the crowd.
Carlo, who passed away from an aggressive form of leukaemia at just 15 years of age, had initially been set to be canonised on 27 April. However, the ceremony was postponed following the death of Pope Francis.
Nicknamed the “cyber-apostle” and “God’s geek” due to his computing skills, which he used to spread the Christian faith, Carlo was born in London in 1991 into a non-practising family. Despite this, he developed an early and intense devotion, attending Mass daily throughout his short life.
In the same ceremony, Pope Leo XIV canonised another young Italian, Pier Giorgio Frassati, who lived from 1901 to 1925. Frassati, a lay student and avid mountain climber, was known for his deep social and spiritual commitment.
The Pope praised both saints, saying their lives were an invitation, especially to young people, “not to waste life but to aim high and make it a masterpiece.”
“Even when illness struck and cut their lives short, it didn’t stop them from loving and offering themselves to God,” the Pope highlighted during his homily.
The Vatican has attributed two posthumous miracles to Carlo Acutis. These include the healing of a Brazilian child with a rare pancreatic defect and the recovery of a Costa Rican student severely injured in an accident. Carlo had been beatified in 2020 by Pope Francis.
