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Vatican City — In a momentous ceremony at St. Peter’s Square, Pope Leo XIV declared two new saints for the Catholic Church: 15-year-old computer prodigy Carlo Acutis and the inspiring Italian layman, Pier Giorgio Frassati. An estimated 80,000 people attended the open-air Mass.
Pope Leo praised both individuals for dedicating their lives to God, calling their lives “masterpieces.” During his Sunday homily, he emphasized the importance of living a life aligned with God’s plan, stating that the greatest risk is to waste it. He presented the new saints, particularly Acutis, as role models for young people, encouraging them to strive for meaningful lives.
Acutis, dubbed “God’s Influencer,” gained recognition for developing a multilingual website cataloging Eucharistic miracles recognized by the Church. Notably, he accomplished this feat at a young age, when such complex websites were typically created by professionals.
Tragically, Acutis’s life was cut short by acute leukemia in 2006, just days after his diagnosis. He was only 15.
Pope Francis, who championed Acutis’s sainthood cause, believed the Church needed a contemporary figure like him to connect with young Catholics in the digital age. Pope Leo, while inheriting the cause, shares a similar perspective on the significance of technology, particularly the challenges posed by artificial intelligence.
Pier Giorgio Frassati, the other newly canonized saint, was lauded by Pope Leo as a “beacon for lay spirituality.” Frassati dedicated his life to serving the poor in Turin, living humbly and generously sharing his resources. He is believed to have contracted polio, which led to his death in his early twenties, from those he served in the slums of Turin.