The Catholic world has gained its first millennial saint.

Saint Carlo Acutis, an Italian teenager who tragically died in 2006, has been canonised by Pope Leo XIV in a ceremony at the Vatican, giving the next generation of Catholics a relatable role model who used technology to spread the faith and earn the nickname “God’s influencer.”

Leo canonised Acutis 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 first saint-making mass of his pontificate, Leo also canonised another popular Italian figure who died young, Pier Giorgio Frassati.

The Vatican said 36 cardinals, 270 bishops and hundreds of 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.
A hour before the mass, St Peter’s Square was already full with pilgrims, many of them young millennial Italians who had found in Acutis a relatable role model.
Many of those fans of Saint Carlo are celebrating the day in person and online, sharing prayers and adorning themselves with saintly merch.
However, the Pope’s death on Easter Monday and the subsequent mourning and conclave periods delayed the proceedings.
On June 13, Pope Leo announced that Saint Carlo, along with young Catholic author Pier Giorgio Frassati, would be the first saints named in his pontificate.

Saint Carlo, who is known as the “saint in sneakers”, has been touted as the patron saint of the internet for his work cataloguing miracles and evangelising online.

And with Catholicism on the decline in many countries, including Australia, some are hoping a relatable saint will help galvanise the next generation of Catholic youth.

Who was Carlo Acutis?
Born in London in 1991 but raised in Milan, Saint Carlo loved gaming, computer programming, soccer, Pokémon, and his dog Billy.

While neither of his parents were religious before he was born, he identified as a devout Catholic from an early age and devoted his life to sharing his love of Jesus.

He was particularly passionate about Eucharistic miracles: supernatural events involving consecrated bread and wine as the literal body and blood of Jesus Christ.

At 11 years old, he created an interactive website cataloguing these miracles around the world. It is still accessible today, and has been displayed as an exhibition on five continents.

He also catalogued visions of the Virgin Mary and built websites for religious causes.

The late Pope Francis had planned to canonise Saint Carlo in April during the Jubilee of Teenagers, a special weekend to celebrate young followers of Christ.