WASHINGTON — A 15-year-old computer whiz who died of leukemia in 2006 is set to become the Catholic Church's first millennial saint.
Pope Francis and the College of Cardinals approved Carlo Acutis' canonization on Monday, according to Vatican News.
Acutis, born on May 3, 1991, in London and then moved with his Italian parents to Milan as a child, was the youngest contemporary person to be beatified by Francis in Assisi in 2020, the Associated Press reported.
Touted as the “patron saint of the internet,” Acutis used his talent to create a website to catalog miracles and took care of websites for some local Catholic organizations.
The teenager, who died of acute leukemia on Oct. 12, 2006, was put on the road to sainthood after Pope Francis approved the first miracle attributed to him: The healing of a 7-year-old Brazilian boy from a rare pancreatic disorder after coming into contact with an Acutis relic, a piece of one of his T-shirts.
The church's sainthood process usually requires that individuals have two miracles attributed to them.
Back in May, the pope attributed a second miracle to Acutis: A young woman's recovery from severe head trauma after her mother made a pilgrimage to Acutis' tomb in the Italian town of Assisi.
The date for his canonization has yet to be set, but Acutis will likely be proclaimed a saint during the 2025 Jubilee, Vatican News stated. He will be the first person born between 1981 and 1996 to be recognized as a saint.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
