Pope Leo XIV has revealed that the Catholic Church’s first ‘millennial-era saint’ Carlo Acutis will be canonised on September 7.
Earlier this month, the Pope held his first ordinary public consistory since being elected in May, in which he formally approved the canonisations of eight saints
Acutis’ beatification was originally scheduled for April 27, but was postponed following the death of Pope Francis on April 21.
London-born Acutis was 15 when he died in northern Italy in 2006 from leukemia.
He has become enormously popular among young Catholics who have been flocking to his tomb in Assisi, which has become a pilgrimage site.
It is also the home of his 13-century idol Saint Francis, who dedicated his life to the care of the poor.
It features a glass coffin in which Acutis can be seen dressed in trainers, jeans and a sweatshirt.
In many respects, Acutis was a normal fifteen-year-old. But the teen, who taught catechism in a local parish and did outreach to the homeless, has become known worldwide for his religious devotion and the attribution of miracles since his passing.
Leo said Acutis will be canonised along with another Italian Catholic, Pier Giorgio Frassati, who also died young at 24 after contracting polio in 1925.
Acutis’ canonisation comes aftet the Vatican judged that the youngster interceded from heaven helped cure two people in life-threatening circumstances, paving the way for him to be canonised as the first ‘millennial saint’.
Antonia Salzano, his mother, said Acutis had a ‘special relationship’ with God from an early age, even though her family was not religious.
Aged seven, he wrote: ‘My life plan is to be always close to Jesus’.
Born in London in 1991 to an Italian mother and a half-English, half-Italian father who was working in the UK as a merchant banker, Carlo grew up in Milan where he took care of his parish website and later that of a Vatican-based academy.
As a young child, he would donate his money to the poor, and when he was old enough spent his evenings cooking and delivering meals to the homeless.
Then, at the end of each day, Carlo would take time to reflect on his life, how he treated his friends, teachers and parents and how he could eliminate any form of sin that he may have committed.
At the turn of the millennium, the young boy began teaching himself computer programming, which he would use to share information about his beliefs.
He soon set up a website, ‘The Eucharistic Miracles of the World’, where he researched and documented miracles attributed with the Eucharist.
The website says it ‘aimed at confirming faith in the real presence of the body and blood of the Lord in the Eucharist’.
Carlo’s diagnosis with leukaemia in October 2006 came as a horrifying shock.
The disease can take several forms but affects the blood cells in bone marrow.
Symptoms include tiredness, bruising and bleeding, repeated infections and high temperatures, per Blood Cancer UK.
The disease overwhelmingly affects young people. While it is not currently curable, it is possible to treat.
In spite of his diagnosis, Carlo reassured his parents: ‘I’m happy to die because I’ve lived my life without wasting even a minute of it doing things that wouldn’t have pleased God.’
Carlo Acutis died on October 12, 2006.
