Vatican to recognize first millennial Catholic saint

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday is scheduled to canonize Carlo Acutis as an official Roman Catholic saint, nearly five years after Pope Francis set him on the path toward sainthood in October 2020. Leo will also canonize Pier Giorgio Frassati during the same ceremony this weekend, formally adding both young men to the church’s Canon of Saints. Acutis was originally scheduled to be canonized on April 27 this year, but the Vatican delayed the ceremony after Francis died on April 21. Leo on Friday also said he will canonize seven other individuals in October, including Armenian Catholic Archbishop Ignatius Shoukrallah Maloyan who died in 1915 during the Armenian Genocide. Peter To Rot, who was martyred in 1945 for continuing his ministry despite a Japanese ban on Catholic worship, will be the church’s first saint from Papua New Guinea. Leo will also canonize three women and two more laymen.

Who were Acutis and Frassati? Born in 1991 in London, Acutis was raised in Milan. Though his parents were not devout Catholics, Acutis developed a deep love of religion and God at a young age, according to a report from the Catholic News Agency. He enjoyed video games and computer programming, and built a website to document claims of eucharistic miracles around the world. In October 2006, when he was 15 years old, Acutis was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and died that same month. He asked to be buried in the Italian town of Assisi where St. Francis of Assisi is also buried. The Vatican last year attributed the 2022 healing of Valeria Valverde to Acutis as a miracle. Valverde’s mother visited his tomb and prayed to Acutis after Valverde suffered head trauma in a bicycle accident and the mother and daughter returned to Assisi months later after she recovered.

Pier Giorgio Frassati was born in Turin, Italy, in 1901. He had a deep spiritual life from a young age, according to his online biography, and he was involved in numerous charitable and faith-based organizations. He was also staunchly anti-fascist and participated in demonstrations supporting the church. Frassati died in 1925 after he contracted poliomyelitis and Pope John Paul II set him on the path to sainthood in 1990. His body was moved to the cathedral in Turin that same year. Pope Francis last year recognized the healing of a seminarian of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles as a miracle attributed to Frassati.

What is the sainthood process? In the Catholic church, leaders first examine the lives of a candidate for sainthood to determine if they were martyred or lived a virtuous life. If the individual passes this process, the pope can beatify them and give them the title “Blessed.” Once someone is beatified, they are granted limited public veneration and the Church determines they are in Heaven and can intercede on behalf of people on Earth. One or two miracles attributed to the individual is required before they are fully canonized as saints, depending on whether the person was martyred or lived a virtuous life.

What do protestants believe about sainthood? Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, which only recognizes individuals as saints if they meet specific criteria, many Protestants believe the Bible calls all true Christians to be saints. This stems from the idea that all who believe in Jesus as the one true Savior and follow Him are holy and set apart by God as outlined in 1 Corinthians 1:2. Most Protestants do not venerate or pray to saints in accordance with the belief that Christ is the sole mediator between God and man.