Pope Leo XIV declares teen computer whiz Carlo Acutis the first millennial saint

VATICAN CITY AP Pope Leo XIV declared a -year-old computer whiz the Catholic Church s first millennial saint Sunday giving the next generation of Catholics a relatable role model who used tool to spread the faith and earn the nickname God s influencer Leo canonized Carlo Acutis who died in during an open-air Mass in St Peter s Square that was attended by tens of thousands of people a multitude of of them millennials and couples with young children During the first saint-making Mass of his pontificate Leo also canonized another popular Italian figure who died young Pier Giorgio Frassati Leo noted both men created masterpieces out of their lives by dedicating them to God The greatest danger in life is to waste it outside of God s plan Leo announced in his homily The new saints are an invitation to all of us especially young people not to squander our lives but to direct them upwards and make them masterpieces The Vatican noted cardinals 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 Both saint-making ceremonies had been scheduled for earlier this year but were postponed following Pope Francis death in April Francis had fervently pushed the Acutis sainthood incident forward convinced that the church needed someone like him to attract young Catholics to the faith while addressing the promises and perils of the digital age An ordianry life that became extraordinary Acutis was born on May in London to a wealthy but not particularly observant Catholic family They moved back to Milan soon after he was born and he enjoyed a typical happy childhood albeit marked by increasingly intense religious devotion Acutis was particularly interested in computer science and devoured college-level books on offerings even as a youngster He earned the nickname God s Influencer thanks to his main tech legacy a multilingual website documenting so-called Eucharistic miracles recognized by the church a project he completed at a time when the advance of such sites was the domain of professionals He was known to spend hours in prayer before the Eucharist each day The Catholic hierarchy has been trying to promote the practice of Eucharistic adoration because according to polls the bulk Catholics don t believe Christ is physically present in the Eucharistic hosts But Acutis limited himself to an hour of video games a week apparently deciding long before TikTok that human relationships were far more significant than virtual ones That discipline and restraint has proven appealing to the Catholic hierarchy which has sounded the alarm about the dangers of nowadays s tech-driven society In October at age Acutis fell ill with what was speedily diagnosed as acute leukemia Within days he was dead He was entombed in Assisi which known for its association with another popular saint St Francis Millions flock to Acutis tomb In the years since his death young Catholics have flocked by the millions to Assisi where they can see the young Acutis through a glass-sided tomb dressed in jeans Nike sneakers and a sweatshirt He seems as if he s sleeping and questions have swirled about how his body was so well preserved especially since parts of his heart have even toured the world as relics It s like I can maybe not be as great as Carlo may be but I can be looking after him and be like What would Carlo do explained Leo Kowalsky an th grader at a Chicago school attached to the Fortunate Carlo Acutis Parish Kowalsky announced he was particularly excited that his own namesake Pope Leo would be canonizing the patron of his school It s kind of all mashed up into one thing so it is a ecstasy to be a part of Kowalsky disclosed in an interview last week Much of Acutis popularity is thanks to a concerted campaign by the Vatican to give the next generation of faithful a saint next door who was ordinary but did extraordinary things in life In Acutis they revealed a relatable tech-savvy millennial the term used to describe a person born roughly between and who was the first generation to reach adulthood in the new millennium Popular piety for the digital age A hour before the Mass St Peter s Square was already full with pilgrims a large number of of them young millennial Italians multiple with toddlers in strollers I learned from different people what his professors his teachers announced about his happiness and the light he carried around him reported Leopoldo Antimi a -year-old Roman who got to the square early to secure a spot So for me personally as an Italian even on social networks that are used so much it is critical to have him as an influencer Matthew Schmalz professor of religious studies at Holy Cross college in Worcester Massachusetts reported Acutis canonization extends the church tradition of popular piety to the digital age He becomes an emblem or model of how Catholics should approach and use the digital world with discipline and with a focus on traditional Catholic spirituality that defies the passage of time he revealed in announcement He is a new saint of simplicity for the ever complex digital landscape of contemporary Catholicism Frassati the other saint being canonized Sunday lived from - when he died at age of polio He was born into a prominent Turin family but is known for his devotion to serving the poor and carrying out acts of charity while spreading his faith to his friends AP visual journalists Trisha Thomas in Vatican City and Jessie Wardarski in Chicago contributed to this assessment Associated Press religion coverage receives encouragement through the AP s collaboration with The Conversation US with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc The AP is solely responsible for this content Source