Carlo Acutis, ‘God’s Influencer’, Declared Catholic Church’s First Millennial Saint

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday declared Carlo Acutis, a London-born Italian teenager who died of leukaemia in 2006, the Catholic church’s first millennial saint during a mass in St Peter’s Square.

Known as “God’s influencer,” Acutis was a skilled computer programmer who created websites to spread Catholic teaching, including a digital catalogue of miracles. His canonisation came alongside Pier Giorgio Frassati, a Turin-born activist who died in 1925, both hailed by the pope as examples of “masterpieces” of faith.

Tens of thousands filled the square for the open-air mass, with Pope Leo urging young people “not to squander their lives, but to make them masterpieces.” The Vatican said 36 cardinals, 270 bishops and hundreds of priests joined the service.

Acutis’s sainthood had been championed by the late Pope Francis, who credited him with two miracles: the recovery of a boy in Brazil with a rare pancreatic disease and the healing of a student in Florence suffering from brain bleeding after a head injury.

Acutis was born in London in 1991 and grew up in Milan, where he combined a passion for coding with religious devotion. He limited his PlayStation use to one hour a week, focusing instead on prayer, charitable acts, and church activities. He died suddenly in October 2006, aged 15, and was entombed in Assisi.

Over a million pilgrims visited Assisi last year to venerate his preserved body, displayed in a glass case and dressed in his trademark jeans and trainers. His heart is enshrined in a gold casket, while relics have toured globally in the lead-up to his canonisation.

His mother, Antonia Salzano, has travelled worldwide recounting his story. She recalled his compassion for the poor and insistence on helping beggars outside their Milan home. “Carlo was an internet geek, but he had the temperance to use technology for good,” she said.

The speed of Acutis’s canonisation, compared to Frassati’s, underscores the Vatican’s urgency in presenting role models who resonate with younger generations in the digital age.