Canonization of the first saint millenary postponed after Pope Francis

The canonization of an Italian teenager who would become the First Millennium Holy has been postponed for at least a week after Death of Pope Francis.

The 88 -year -old pontiff died on Monday after 12 years as leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Vatican announced that the Canonization of Carlo Acutis will be next Sunday in the Plaza de San Pedro on the occasion of the celebration of the Jubilee of Adolescents. Originally it was scheduled to happen on April 27, the second Easter Sunday.

Acutis died of leukemia in 2006 at the age of 15. He was born in London with rich Italian parents, grew up in Milan, where he administered the website for his parish and then in an academy based in the Vatican. He also used his computer skills to create an online database of Eucharistic miracles worldwide.

His path to holiness began more than 10 years ago at the initiative of a group of priests and friends, and formally took off shortly after Francis began his papacy in 2013.

Acutis was named “venerable” in 2018 after the Church recognized its virtuous life, and its body, with sneakers, jeans and a sweatshirt, was taken to a sanctuary in the Sanctuary of the Spolyzione in Assisi, Italy. It was an important place linked to the life of San Francisco.

The teenager was declared “blessed” or beatified, the first step towards holiness, in 2020 after a miracle was attributed. In that miracle, Acutis is attributed to the healing of a Brazilian child of a congenital disease that affects his pancreas.

A second miracle was attributed to Acutis in May 2024. He involved the healing of a university student in Florence who was bleeding the brain after suffering trauma in the head in a bicycle accident.

Francis and the cardinals residing in Rome formally approved their canonization in July 2024.

In the months prior to the expected canonization, the faithful have been going to Assisi.

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