Pope to make late Italian millennial Carlo Acutis a saint in April

By Joshua McElwee

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – An Italian teenager who used his computer skills to spread the Catholic faith will become the first saint from the millennial generation when he is canonized next April.

Carlo Acutis, who died of leukaemia in 2006 aged 15, was dubbed “God’s influencer”. Born in London, he grew up in Milan where he took care of the websites for his parish and a Vatican-based academy.

Pope Francis told his weekly general audience at the Vatican on Wednesday that Acutis will be made a saint during the weekend of April 25 to 27.

That weekend, the Vatican is celebrating a Jubilee for Adolescents as part of the Catholic holy year in Rome, which opens at the end of December. The Vatican did not give an exact date for the canonization ceremony.

The pope also said on Wednesday he would canonize Pier Giorgio Frassati, a young Italian man who was known for helping those in need and died of polio in the 1920s, during the weekend of July 28-Aug. 3.

Francis also announced the Vatican would host a meeting on the rights of children on Feb. 3, which he said would include experts from various countries.

(Reporting by Joshua McElwee, editing by Gavin Jones and Angus MacSwan)