Sat Sep 06 16:50:13 UTC 2025: **FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**
**”God’s Influencer” Carlo Acutis to be Canonized, Becoming First Millennial Saint**
**VATICAN CITY** – In a historic ceremony, Carlo Acutis, the Italian teenager dubbed “God’s Influencer,” will be canonized as a saint this Sunday in St. Peter’s Square. Pope Leo XIV will lead the service, marking the first canonization of the pontiff’s reign after succeeding Pope Francis. Tens of thousands of worshippers are expected to attend.
Acutis, who died of leukemia in 2006 at the young age of 15, gained worldwide recognition for his innovative use of technology to spread the Catholic faith. Born in London in 1991 and raised in Milan, he taught himself coding and created websites documenting miracles and other aspects of Catholic doctrine. Notably, he built a website documenting Eucharistic miracles, which has been translated into nearly 20 languages.
His story resonated particularly with young Catholics, drawn to his modern approach and commitment to faith. Described as attending daily Mass and showing kindness to bullied children and the homeless, Acutis is seen as a role model for navigating the digital age while upholding Catholic values.
The Vatican attributes two miracles to Acutis’s intercession since his death. These include the healing of a Brazilian child with a pancreatic malformation and the recovery of a Costa Rican student from injuries sustained in an accident, both after prayers were made in Acutis’s name.
Acutis’s body, clad in jeans and Nike trainers, is enshrined in a glass tomb in Assisi, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.
Pope Francis, a strong supporter of Acutis’s cause for sainthood, believed that the church needed a figure like him to engage young people and address the challenges and opportunities presented by the digital era. Pope Leo XIV, inheriting the cause, has also emphasized the importance of addressing technology, particularly artificial intelligence, as a key issue for humanity.
During the same ceremony, Pope Leo XIV will also canonize Pier Giorgio Frassati, a young Italian man known for his charitable work who died of polio in the 1920s.
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