ByDANIELLE GREYMAN-KENNARD, REUTERS

Carlo Acutis, an Italian teenager nicknamed ‘God’s influencer,’ became the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint on Sunday in a ceremony attended by over 70,000 worshippers. 

Acutis passed from Leukaemia in 2006 but, ahead of his death, had spread the teachings of Catholicism and set up a website to document reports of miracles. 

In addition to creating a database of miracles, the content creator enjoyed playing video games and making films starring his pets.

Spreading Catholicism online

Acutis' canonization had been hotly anticipated by many Catholic youths for months. It was originally set for April but was postponed after the death of Pope Francis.

Acutis is celebrated by Catholics as the pioneer of a new form of evangelisation efforts, utilizing the internet to spread Catholic teachings. His casual outfits, usually jeans and a T-shirt, and approach created a young global following and now a reputation as a relatable saint, according to CNN.

Worshippers pose for a picture as they attend a Holy Mass celebrating the canonisation of Carlo Acutis, a British-born Italian boy who became the first millennial Catholic saint, at Parish Saint Carlo Acutis in Sao Paulo, Brazil September 7, 2025.
Worshippers pose for a picture as they attend a Holy Mass celebrating the canonisation of Carlo Acutis, a British-born Italian boy who became the first millennial Catholic saint, at Parish Saint Carlo Acutis in Sao Paulo, Brazil September 7, 2025. (credit: REUTERS/Jean Carniel)

Acutis’s cannonization came alongside Pier Giorgio Frassatti, who passed in 1925 at 24 years old. Frassatti was known for aiding the poor and those suffering from the Polio vaccine.

In impromptu remarks to crowds in St. Peter's Square at the opening of the event, Pope Leo said Acutis and Frassati were examples of holiness, and of helping those in need.

"All of you, all of us together, are called to be saints," the pontiff told the young crowd, which had spilled out of the square down the main boulevard into the Vatican from Rome.

"Carlo … loved to say that heaven has always been waiting for us, and that to love tomorrow is to give the best of ourselves today," Leo said in a later sermon.

The two new saints, said the pope, "are an invitation to all of us, especially young people, not to squander our lives, but to direct them upwards (to heaven)."

As Acutis progressed along the Church's official path to sainthood, his body was moved to a church in the hill town of Assisi in central Italy, where St. Francis was from, in line with Acutis' last wishes.

The new saint's final resting place, where Acutis is entombed with a wax mould of his likeness placed over his body, wearing his track top, jeans and trainers, has become a popular devotional site, attracting thousands of worshippers every day.