A saint in sneakers just made history.
Carlo Acutis, the 15-year-old who coded websites about miracles, has been declared the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint.
The canonization drew tens of thousands to St. Peter’s Square, with Pope Leo XIV presiding over his first saint-making ceremony. For a Church struggling to reach young people, Acutis has become an unlikely icon — jeans, PlayStation discipline, and all.
Born in 1991 and dead by 2006, Acutis left a short life but a long legacy. He was known for building online archives of Eucharistic miracles and for defending classmates who were bullied.
The Vatican attributed two healings to his intercession: a Brazilian boy with a rare illness and a Costa Rican student recovering from brain trauma. Those miracles fast-tracked his sainthood in record time.
Nicknamed “God’s influencer,” Acutis stands out in a faith tradition often represented by centuries-old saints in stained-glass windows.
His appeal is clear: he spoke the language of a digital generation without losing sight of his devotion. Even at his tomb in Assisi, where he lies in jeans and Nike sneakers, streams of young pilgrims visit every year.
Carlo Acutis enters sainthood as something the Church hasn’t seen before: a millennial who coded miracles and spoke the internet’s language. With Pope Leo XIV elevating him, the Catholic Church has its first millennial saint — a digital-age figure already known worldwide as “God’s influencer.”
