To thunderous applause from over 80,000 people—a great many of them young people— gathered in St. Peter’s Square this Sunday morning, Pope Leo XIV declared Pier Giorgio Frassati, a young Italian from the 20th century who died at the age of 24, and Carlo Acutis, an Italian teenager from the 21st century, saints of the Catholic Church.
Pope Francis had intended to declare Carlo Acutis (1991-2006) as the first millennial saint on April 27, the Jubilee of Adolescents, and Pier Giorgio Frassati (1901-1925) a saint at the Jubilee for Youth at the end of August, but the Argentine pope died on April 21. And so today, four months to the day on which he entered the conclave that elected him pope, Leo XIV declared them saints together— the first of his pontificate.
The pope surprised the crowd by coming out on the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica before Mass to greet them. Speaking off the cuff, he told them, “It is a blessing of the Lord to be together today…a blessing for Italy and for the whole church.” He welcomed the family of Carlo Acutis, relatives of Pier Giorgio Frassati, and many members of Catholic Action, the group to which he belonged—as well as the president of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, and other authorities. He invited everyone “to follow their example and their love for Christ in the Eucharist and in the poor.”
Shortly after, Leo returned wearing gold vestments and began the festive event with the sign of the cross. Then the Sistine Choir sang the “Veni Creator,” the hymn to the Holy Spirit, at the beginning of the canonization ceremony. Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, stepped forward and formally requested the pope to declare Frassati and Acutis saints. He then read a short biography of each of the new saints.
Following the canonization rite, the Sistine Choir led the singing of the Litany of the Saints in Latin. Then, in an act that the pope alone can do with magisterial authority, Leo declared, “with the authority of our lord Jesus Christ, of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul and ours,” Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis as saints to be honored with devotion throughout the Catholic church.
The tens of thousands of young people present responded to the declaration of sainthood with enthusiastic applause, while the Sistine Choir sang the triple “Amen” and the joyful “Alleluia.”
Following the canonization ceremony, the Scripture readings for the Mass were read. Carlo Acutis’ brother, Michele, read the first reading in English. The other readings followed in Italian, Latin and Greek.
The pope began his homily by recalling how Sts. Augustine and Francis of Assisi put aside the pleasures of wealth, fame and power to follow Christ. Likewise, today, he said, “we look to Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati and Saint Carlo Acutis: a young man from the early 20th century and a teenager from our own day, both in love with Jesus and ready to give everything for him.”
He recalled that “Pier Giorgio encountered the Lord through school and church groups— Catholic Action, the Conferences of Saint Vincent, the FUCI [Italian Catholic University Federation], the Dominican Third Order—and he bore witness to God with his joy of living and of being a Christian in prayer, friendship and charity.” He said, “This was so evident that seeing him walking the streets of Turin with carts full of supplies for the poor, his friends renamed him ‘Frassati Impresa Trasporti’ [Frassati Transport Company]!”
Even today, the pope said, “Pier Giorgio’s life is a beacon for lay spirituality. For him, faith was not a private devotion, but it was driven by the power of the Gospel and his membership in ecclesial associations. He was also generously committed to society, contributed to political life and devoted himself ardently to the service of the poor.”
Then the pope recalled that “Carlo, for his part, encountered Jesus in his family, thanks to his parents, Andrea and Antonia—who are here today with his two siblings, Francesca and Michele—and then at school, and above all in the sacraments celebrated in the parish community. He grew up naturally integrating prayer, sport, study and charity into his days as a child and young man.”
Leo told the vast crowd and the millions watching on television or social media across the world, “Both Pier Giorgio and Carlo cultivated their love for God and for their brothers and sisters through simple acts, available to everyone: daily Mass, prayer and especially Eucharistic adoration.” He recalled that Acutis used to say, “In front of the sun, you get a tan. In front of the Eucharist, you become a saint!” Again quoting Acutis, the pope said, “Sadness is looking at yourself; happiness is looking at God. Conversion is nothing more than shifting your gaze from below to above; a simple movement of the eyes is enough.”
Frequent confession was another practice of the two new saints, the pope said. Acutis wrote: “The only thing we really have to fear is sin,” and he marveled because—in his own words—“people are so concerned with the beauty of their bodies and do not care about the beauty of their souls.”
Pope Leo drew attention to the fact that the two new Italian saints “had a great devotion to the saints and to the Virgin Mary, and they practiced charity generously.” He recalled that Frassati said, “Around the poor and the sick, I see a light that we do not have” and called charity “the foundation of our religion.” Like Acutis, “he practiced it above all through small, concrete gestures, often hidden, living what Pope Francis called ‘a holiness found in our next-door neighbors.’”
Then, referring to the fact that both died young, Frassati from polio at the age of 24 and Acutis from leukemia at 15, Pope Leo said: “Even when illness struck them and cut short their young lives, not even this stopped them nor prevented them from loving, offering themselves to God, blessing him and praying to him for themselves and for everyone.”
He recalled that one day Frassati said: “The day of my death will be the most beautiful day of my life” and “in his last photo, which shows him climbing a mountain in the Val di Lanzo, with his face turned towards his goal, he wrote: ‘Upwards.’”
The pope said, “Carlo, who was even younger than Pier Giorgio, loved to say that heaven has always been waiting for us, and that to love tomorrow is to give the best of our fruit today.”
In his homily, delivered in Italian, he said, “Saints Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis are an invitation to all of us, especially young people, not to squander our lives, but to direct them upwards and make them masterpieces.” He said the new saints “encourage us with their words: ‘Not I, but God,’ as Carlo used to say. And Pier Giorgio: ‘If you have God at the center of all your actions, then you will reach the end.’”
Leo concluded: “This is the simple but winning formula of their holiness. It is also the type of witness we are called to follow, in order to enjoy life to the full and meet the Lord in the feast of heaven.”
After the singing of the Credo in Latin, the prayers of the faithful were read first in Spanish by Valeria Vargas Valverde, the young Costa Rican woman whose miraculous cure through the intercession of Carlo Acutis led to his canonisation. Other prayers were read in French, Korean and Portuguese.
The offertory gifts were then brought to the pope, by relatives of the new saints, including the parents, brother and sister of Acutis.
Pope Leo then concelebrated the Mass with some 40 cardinals, 250 bishops and 2,000 priests, which ended just before midday under the blazing sun.
Then, before reciting the Angelus, he thanked all present for coming and invited them to raise “an incessant prayer for peace in the Holy Land and Ukraine as well as in many other parts of the world.” He appealed to the political rulers governing these countries “to listen to the voice of conscience” and abandon the mindset of hate and negotiate. He told them in a strong, authoritative voice, “God does not want war! God wants peace!” The crowd applauded vigorously.
The pope then spent a long time being driven among the cheering crowd, many of them young people who shouted “Viva Papa León” and cheered as he blessed babies and young children.
Frassati’s canonization attracted a great number of young Italians, especially from Catholic Action, which was the strongest youth movement in Italy during fascism, World War II and the reconstruction of the country.
Acutis’ canonization attracted not only Italian young people but also many from the United States and other countries who feel close to him because of his age and modern communication skills, and his finding ways to Christ and the poor through the computer and the internet.
Among the many hundreds from the United States who had come for the canonization of Acutis, I found the Galli family from New Bedford, Mass.: Charlotte, her husband Juan and son Jasper. When I asked why Carlo Acutis meant so much to them, Charlotte had much to say, and I quote her answer in full:
Carlo matters to me for many reasons. I’ll mention three. The first is the way he died, totally at peace at the age of 15. That’s something most people can’t begin to imagine. But Carlo knew that hope, the theme of this jubilee year, is real, and that heaven, the object of our hope, is real. We are all invited to spend eternity here. Of course, we have to accept the invitation, but if we do, it changes everything. Carlo’s peace in the face of death is the fruit of that hope.”
The second, totally connected reason is the Eucharist. In the U.S.A. we just finished a three-year Eucharistic Revival to wake people up to this incredible gift that Jesus offers us every day at the Mass—the gift of himself. From a very early age, Carlo was awake to that gift, and he shared it with the world through the site he created. If you want to understand Carlo’s peaceful acceptance—even, I would say, joy—in the face of death, start with the Eucharist, which he called the “highway to heaven.”
Carlo knew God in the Eucharist; when he received, he held nothing back. Most of us block God’s love, even if we don’t know it. Not Carlo. God gives more to people like that, not because he loves them more, but because they don’t put up barriers, they’re not afraid of being loved. And that love changes you. You’re not afraid to die. Because you’re going home, to the source of love, to love itself.
Finally, she said, “Carlo matters to me because he matters to my son. He is a gift to the young people of today who are desperate for meaning and purpose and hope. My son wanted to be here, so I did too.”
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