ASSISI, ITALY – OCTOBER 10: A tapestry featuring a portrait of Carlo Acutis is hang at the St. Francis Basilica during the beatification ceremony of Carlo Acutis, on October 10, 2020 in Assisi, Italy. The fifteen-year-old Carlo Acutis member of the Millennial generation who died on 12 October 2006 from M3 fulminant leukemia, is considered a “computer geek” on account of his passion and skill with computers and the internet. Acutis applied himself to creating a website dedicated to cataloguing each reported Eucharistic miracle in the world.
Pope Francis said he will canonize Carlo Acutis next April, setting the eagerly awaited date for the late teenager to become the Catholic Church’s first millennial and digital saint.
Francis made the announcement at the end of his weekly general audience on Wednesday, saying he would proclaim the church's youngest contemporary saint during the Jubilee of Adolescents at the Vatican on April 25-27.
Officials later confirmed the canonization Mass would occur on April 27 at the Vatican.
Acutis, who was born to Italian parents in London, was a web designer who died of leukemia in Italy in 2006 at the age of 15. Francis beatified him in 2020 in Assisi, where his tomb draws a steady stream of pilgrims.
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Touted as the “patron saint of the internet,” Acutis used his natural tech talent to create a website to catalog miracles and took care of websites for some local Catholic organizations.
Francis announced in May that he had approved a second miracle attributed to Acutis’ intercession, paving the way for Wednesday’s announcement.
