Youth is no barrier to sanctity. That’s certainly the message from the Vatican this weekend, as the first canonization ceremony since the election of a new pope will raise a young, 20th-century athlete and anti-fascist, Pier Giorgio Frassati, to officially recognized sainthood. At the same time, Carlo Acutis, a “computer whiz” who died at the age of 15 in 2006, will be canonized, a milestone in Church history.
Acutis will become the first member of the millennial generation canonized by the Catholic Church on Sept. 7. While he and Frassati died almost a century apart, they shared a zest for life, interests in the popular youth pastimes of their day, and, of course, a strong faith in Christ.
The moment we’ve been waiting for is here: the official banners honoring Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati have been unveiled on the massive façade of Saint Peter’s Basilica!
Pilgrims from around the world are already taking in the beautiful sight as we count down to the… pic.twitter.com/juxdwCNFOt
— ChurchPOP (@Church_POP) September 4, 2025
As someone who has a special devotion to Pier Giorgio, I was delighted to see that he is to be given the official title of “saint.” Pier Giorgio Frassati was a young Italian student known for his joyous attitude, his fervent piety, and his dedication to charity at a time when fascism was rising to power in Italy. He opposed fascism and all its works. Not even his heartbreak over being unable to marry the girl he loved prevented him from always being a loving friend and joyous Catholic. He was as passionately interested in attending Mass, receiving the Eucharist, and caring for the needy as in attending the theater, climbing mountains, and reading poetry. He died in 1925 when he was only 24 years old from poliomyelitis.
Meet the soon-to-be Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati!
Known as “The Man of the Beatitudes,” Pier Giorgio Frassati lived a life full of faith, adventure, and service to others. Whether climbing mountains or helping the poor, he showed that holiness is found in joyful generosity.
✝️… pic.twitter.com/pqj0oAytDB
— Knights of Columbus (@KofC) September 4, 2025
Frassati declared, “A Catholic cannot help but be happy; sadness should be banished from their souls. Suffering is not sadness, which is the worst disease. This disease is almost always caused by atheism, but the end for which we are created guides us along life’s pathway, which may be strewn with thorns, but is not sad. It is happy even through suffering.”
Just as Frassati was an excellent example of being a Christian in an increasingly hostile world in the last century, so Carlo Acutis is considered by many to be an example to millennial and Gen Z Catholics now.
The late and controversial Pope Francis intended to canonize Acutis but did not live to do it. Hence, Pope Leo will officiate instead.
Acutis’s mother, Antonia Salzano, said the teen brought her back to the faith. “Carlo was a tool that God used to make me understand that Jesus is really present in the Blessed Sacrament, because before, I was like a protestant. I thought that the sacraments were like symbols. But through Carlo, I understood, through Eucharistic miracles where he spoke about the Eucharist, that Jesus is really present in the Blessed Sacrament—that there is a Real Presence,” she said, according to EWTN (see John 6).
Carlo was a teenager like any other—he loved sports, his friends, and his PlayStation… By the age of seven, Carlo had begun attending daily Mass and Eucharistic adoration. His life, as his mother recalls, revolved around the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist… He believed in putting his love into action, organizing aid for the homeless in Milan at just nine years old… Diagnosed with leukemia at just 15, he accepted his suffering with grace and stayed joyful through it all.
Acutis was a talented computer programmer and coder, too, which has sparked enthusiasm for him among some young Catholics in our highly digitalized age.
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The Church names saints so we can follow their example and ask for their prayers as we grow ever closer to Christ and make Him the center of our lives. Certainly, young people today, facing a constant barrage of anti-Christian propaganda and encouragement toward perversion and sin, need guides and role models to help them follow Christ in the modern world.
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