Pope Leo XIV on Sunday formally declared Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati to be saints of the Roman Catholic Church in a public ceremony at St. Peter’s Square in Rome, naming the first two saints of his pontificate and the first member of the millennial generation to be canonized.
“After due deliberation and frequent prayer for divine assistance and having sought the counsel of many of our brother bishops, we declare and define Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis to be saints and we enroll them among the saints,” Leo XIV said during the 10 a.m. ceremony, which was attended by thousands. Acutis’ mother, Antonia Salzano, and his brother and sister were present in the square for the rite.
Carlo Acutis, born in 1991 in England and raised in Milan, promoted devotion to the Eucharist and Marian apparitions through a website he created documenting reported miracles. Known for his facility with digital media, Acutis has been widely described as the first millennial saint and as a figure who connected elements of contemporary technology with traditional Catholic devotion. He died of leukemia on Oct. 12, 2006, at age 15.
Acutis’ cause for sainthood advanced after two miracles were attributed to his intercession, a requirement under church law for canonization. Vatican officials recognized the first attributed miracle — the unexplained recovery of a Brazilian boy with a malformed pancreas after prayers to Acutis in 2013 — during the beatification process. A second case involved a Costa Rican woman who recovered from a severe head injury after a bicycle accident in Florence in 2022; the Vatican officially recognized that recovery in May 2024. Acutis had been beatified in October 2020 by Pope Francis; Francis had been scheduled to preside over Acutis’ canonization but the event was postponed after the pope’s death in April.
Pier Giorgio Frassati was born in Turin in 1901 into a prominent Italian family. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops says Frassati was noted for a deep spirituality, a strong commitment to the poor and an enthusiasm for outdoor pursuits. A member of the Dominican Third Order, he volunteered with the St. Vincent de Paul Society and cared for polio patients before contracting the disease himself; he died in 1925 at age 24, likely after exposure while serving those in need.
The miracles attributed to Frassati span decades. The first recorded miracle occurred in 1933, when a 40-year-old laborer was cured of Pott’s disease, a spinal condition, after prayers for Frassati’s intercession; that recovery was recognized by the Vatican in May 1990 and led to Frassati’s beatification by Pope John Paul II. A second reported miracle involved an American seminarian, Juan Gutierrez, who in 2017 recovered from a severe Achilles tendon injury after praying a novena to Frassati; Pope Francis formally declared that recovery a miracle by decree in November 2024.
Under Roman Catholic canon law, the path to sainthood typically proceeds in three stages. A candidate is first declared "venerable" after a determination that the person lived a life of heroic virtue. After one verified miracle attributed to the candidate's intercession, the person may be beatified and granted the title "blessed." A second verified miracle is ordinarily required for canonization, when the pope formally enrolls the person among the saints of the universal church.
The canonizations on Sunday were the first of Pope Leo XIV’s pontificate. They follow numerous canonizations under his predecessor, Pope Francis, including a mass on Oct. 20, 2024, in which Francis named 14 people saints and who canonized more than 900 individuals during his time as pope.
The declarations of Acutis and Frassati add two lay figures from Italy to the church’s roster of saints and underscore themes highlighted during the ceremony: service to the poor in Frassati’s case and outreach to youth and the digital age in Acutis’ case. Both causes drew attention for the long intervals between the lives of the two men and the miracles recognized on their behalf, reflecting the multigenerational character of contemporary Catholic devotion and canonization practice.
The Vatican did not announce immediate plans for additional canonizations by Pope Leo XIV, and officials provided no timeline for further liturgical celebrations related to the new saints.