Pope Leo willcanonize Blessed Carlo Acutison Sunday, Sept. 7 - the first such ceremony of his tenure and the first Catholic saint of the millennial generation - elevating him to the same level asMother Teresa and Francis of Assisi. Acutis, a British-born Italian who died from leukemia in 2006 at the age of 15, was initially set to be canonized in April, but theceremony was suspendedafter the death ofPope Francis. His mother,Antonia Salzano, told Reutersin 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." The canonization of Carlo Acutis is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 7, at 10 a.m. local time in St. Peter's Square in Rome. While access to St. Peter's Square opens at 8:00 a.m., no tickets or reservations are required for general public access, according to the Vatican. During the ceremony, the Pontiff will also canonize Pier Giorgio Frassati, a young Italian man who was known for helping those in need and died of polio in the 1920s. Born in 1991, Acutis, who learned several computer coding languages and developed websites for his parish and the wider Catholic Church, died from leukemia at age 15 in 2006. Anyone born between 1981 and 1996 is considered to be a millennial, according to the Pew Research Center. Acutis' beatification took place in 2020, when Pope Francis declared the teen had attained the blessedness of heaven, and he was given the title of "Blessed." 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, according to the Vatican. Saints are persons in heaven who did one of the following, according to theUnited States Conference of Catholic Bishops: Lived heroically virtuous lives. Offered their life to others. Died for their faith. Reuters contributed to the reporting of this story. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:When will Carlo Acutis, the first millennial saint, be canonized?
