Pope Leo XIV declares 15-year-old computer whiz a saint

Article

Sunday, September 07, 2025

07/09/2025

Pope Leo XIV waves to faithful holding a picture of Blessed Carlo Acutis, who will be canonized Sunday, as he arrives in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican for an open-air jubiliar audience on Sept 6. (AP)

VATICAN CITY, Sept 7, (AP): Pope Leo XIV declared a 15-year-old computer whiz the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint Sunday, giving the next generation of Catholics a relatable role model who used technology to spread the faith. Leo canonized Carlo Acutis, who died in 2006, during an open-air Mass in St. Peter’s Square that was attended by tens of thousands of people, many of them millennials and couples with young children.

During the ceremony, Leo also canonized another popular Italian figure who died young, Pier Giorgio Frassati. The Vatican said 36 cardinals, 270 bishops 212 priests had signed up to celebrate the Mass along with Leo in a sign of the saints’ enormous appeal to the hierarchy and ordinary faithful alike. d by increasingly intense religious devotion.