June 13 (UPI) -- An Italian teenager dubbed "God's Influencer" is to become the first saint from the millennial generation Sept. 7, after Pope Leo XIV announced the date of his canonization in the Vatican on Friday.
British-born Carlo Acutis, a keen computer gamer who died of leukemia in 2006 at age 15, will be declared a saint by Leo in a St. Peter's Square ceremony, after the Holy See verified two miracles attributed to him and in recognition of his use of Internet technology to spread the Catholic faith.
Approved back in July under the previous pontificate of the late Pope Francis, Acutis will be canonized along with another candidate recognized by Francis, Pier Giorgio Frassati, who died in 1924 at age 24.
"This morning, Pope Leo XIV presided over the Ordinary Public Consistory for the Canonization of the Blesseds, announcing that these Italian young men will be inscribed in the Register of Saints on the first Sunday of the month [of September]," the Vatican said in a social media post.
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