ROME — Pope Leo XIV on Friday set Sept. 7 as the rescheduled date to canonize the Catholic Church’s first millennial-era saint, Carlo Acutis, in what is expected to be Leo’s first saint-making ceremony as well.
Leo made the announcement during a meeting of cardinals, known as a consistory, to set the dates for a handful of new saints.
Acutis’ canonization was originally scheduled for April 27, but was postponed following the death of Pope Francis on April 21.
Acutis was 15 when he died in northern Italy in 2006, after a short bout with leukemia. He has become enormously popular especially among young Catholics who have been flocking to his tomb in Assisi.
While he enjoyed regular pastimes for his age — hiking, video games and joking around with friends — he also taught catechism in a local parish and did outreach to the homeless. He used his computer skills to create an online exhibit about more than 100 eucharistic miracles recognized by the church over many centuries.
His tomb in Assisi has become a pilgrimage site especially during the 2025 Holy Year underway. It features a glass coffin in which Acutis can be seen dressed in sneakers, jeans and a sweatshirt.
In setting the Sept. 7 date, Leo announced Acutis would be canonized along with another Italian Catholic, Pier Giorgio Frassati, who also died young at age 24 after contracting polio.
Assisi Bishop Domenico Sorrentino expressed joy Friday at the new date for the canonization and invited Leo to visit the tomb. He said the canonization of Acutis and Frassati would “put holiness in ordinary life at the center of attention of the church, especially for new generations.”
The Vatican requires that the church confirm two miracles attributed to the candidate’s intercession in order to proceed with canonization.
In Acutis’ case, the second alleged miracle concerned the medically inexplicable healing of a Costa Rican young woman who suffered a severe head injury when she fell from a bike in Florence in 2022. Doctors said she was in an irreversible coma.
According to Sorrentino’s office, the young woman’s mother prayed at Acutis’ tomb and soon thereafter her daughter’s condition improved. She was well enough to visit Acutis’ tomb in September.
The first alleged miracle occurred in 2013 in Brazil and concerned a young boy afflicted with a grave pancreatic disorder who got better after praying to Acutis.
