Pope Francis has confirmed that Carlo Acutis will become the first Catholic saint from the millennial generation next April, during a weekend dedicated to teenagers as part of the Jubilee of 2025.
Acutis was born in London in 1991 to Italian parents who moved back to Italy shortly after his birth.
Known for his computer skills and religious faith, Acutis had created and maintained various websites, including a website that catalogued Eucharistic miracles and another which listed approved Marian apparitions, as well as the website of the Milan parish in which he lived.
He had developed a throat inflammation on 1 October, 2006, and after his condition worsened dramatically within days, he was diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukaemia. He died on 12 October, aged just 15, in a hospital in Monza.
In accordance with his wishes, Acutis is buried in Assisi, within the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore: his resting place has since become a site of pilgrimage.
The cause for his canonisation was opened in 2012, and Pope Francis confirmed the authenticity of a miracle attributed to his intercession in 2020, leading to his beatification.
A second miracle attributed to the intercession of Acutis was recognised by the pope last May, and on 1 July, as he presided at an ordinary consistory of cardinals, his canonisation and that of 14 other people was approved.
And in his weekly general audience on Wednesday, the Pope confirmed that Acutis will officially be made a saint during the weekend of 25-27 April, 2025, the weekend in which a Jubilee for Teenagers is being organised by the Catholic Church. The exact date of the canonisation ceremony was not given.