By Joshua McElwee
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -The canonisation of the first Catholic saint of the millennial generation, Carlo Acutis, will take place on September 7, Pope Leo announced on Friday.
Acutis, a British-born Italian who died from leukaemia in 2006 at the age of 15, was originally set to be made a saint on April 27 but the event was suspended after the death of Pope Francis.
Leo announced the new date during a meeting with cardinals to discuss sainthood causes on Friday.
The pope did not say where the sainthood ceremony would be held, but canonisations are usually celebrated in St. Peter’s Square. Acutis’ sainthood has drawn wide attention from young Catholics and is likely to bring tens of thousands of people to Rome.
Acutis, sometimes referred to as “God’s influencer”, learned several computer coding languages before his death and built websites to spread his faith.
His mother, Antonia Salzano, told Reuters in April that the heart of her son’s appeal was that he lived the same life as others who were teenagers in the 2000s.
“Carlo was an ordinary child like (others),” she said. “He used to play, to have friends, and to go to school. But his extraordinary quality was the fact that he opened the door of his heart to Jesus and put Jesus in first place in his life.”
Being made a saint indicates that the Church believes the person is now in Heaven with God.
Sainthood causes are examined by a Vatican department that must confirm that a potential saint lived a holy life, and usually also involves the verification of two miracles attributed to the future saint’s intercession with God in Heaven.
Acutis is credited with the healing of a 4-year-old Brazilian boy with a serious pancreatic malformation and of a 21-year-old Costa Rican woman who was near death after a bicycle accident.
The parents of both individuals had prayed to Acutis for help, Church authorities said.
During the September 7 ceremony, Leo will also canonise Pier Giorgio Frassati, a young Italian man who was known for helping those in need and died of polio in the 1920s.
(Reporting by Joshua McElwee; Editing by Giulia Segreti and Kate Mayberry)
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