Pope Francis is shown during the Easter Mass in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. on March 31, 2024. File Photo by Stefano Spaziani/UPI | License Photo
Pope Francis on Wednesday announced the date of two saints to be canonized in 2025, including the first millennial saint.
The Vatican said teenager Carlo Acutis, a tech expert, will be canonized during the Jubilee for Adolescents on April 25-27. The second canonization, Pier Giorgio Frassati, will occur during the Jubilee for Young People, held July 28-Aug. 3. Advertisement
The Vatican noted that Frassati’s canonization comes 35 years after his beatification. Both are popular among young Catholics and are expected to draw large audiences to the individual celebrations.
Acutis was a young Italian computer coding expert who died of cancer in 2006. As a child, he attended mass daily and worked with his family for nearly three years to put together an exhibition on eucharistic miracles that opened in 2005, the Year of the Eucharist.
The display has now been shown on five continents through thousands of parishes. His faith led his parents to return to the Catholic Church and his Hindu au pair to convert.
In 2013, Pope Francis approved a miracle associated with Acutis when a Brazilian boy was healed from pancreatic disease after touching a t-shirt formerly worn by Acutis. Advertisement
Frassati died at 24 in 1925 after growing up an avid mountaineer in Turin. He joined the St. Vincent de Paul Society at 17 to care for the homeless and sick. He also assisted injured servicemen returning from World War I.
His father founded the newspaper La Stampa in Italy but Frassati dedicated himself to service to others through the Apostleship of Prayer and Catholic Action.
