Pope Leo XIV canonized his first two Saints on September 7, St. Carlo Acutis and St. Pier Georgio Frassati. This has been an eagerly anticipated moment this year especially as both of their original canonization dates were postponed.  

Carlo’s mother, Antonia, alongside her husband and two children, was able to proudly witness their son be canonized as the first millennial saint. Pope Leo XIV also greeted them, as well as Frassati’s relatives, who were present.

St. Peter’s Square filled with about 70,000 faithful, many of whom had queued from the early hours of the morning—or even camped overnight—to secure a seat at the celebration.

A young Italian pilgrim named Francesco shared his motivation for attending the canonization. “I am actually really inspired by Carlo Acutis,” he said, “that’s why I came here from the South of Italy, just to see his canonization. I personally love him and this figure and the importance he has on today’s world, because he showed that young men can actually be saints.”

Lynette and John Davis, pilgrims from Texas told EWTN Vatican, “I am feeling so incredible and amazing, it was one of the most memorable experiences that I think I’ve ever had.” — “And these are two really great Saints for this day and age, so I think they’ll provide great examples for the youth of today.”

Before the big day on Sunday, the Eternal City was full of spiritual and cultural preparations for locals and pilgrims. Chicago artist, Johnny Vrba, used his talent and imagination to evangelize through creating a unique artwork compiled of over 1,000 soldier figurines to portray the spiritual warfare Catholics face in everyday life. 

“One of my favorite aspects of the piece,” he noted, “is really the general overview, which is all of the culture of death represented by the grey, black and white figures pointing their weapons on Jesus at the crucifix, and you see the 163 colored figures, which is represented by every single eucharistic miracle that Carlo documented, are facing away, evangelizing, going against the culture and fighting for Christ.” 

The pieces used to make up the face of Carlo are all carefully and intentionally positioned to depict Carlo’s life and the miracles that followed.

“There’s also the first miracle,” he explained, “which is represented by the steak and french fries at the bottom, which is Matteus, the Brazilian boy and of course Valeria, his second miracle who’s in the top right-hand corner, who crashed her bicycle in Florence and she was miraculously healed.” 

Later that day, Johnny and many others including Cardinal Raymond Burke attended an exclusive showing of the film ‘Carlo Acutis: Roadmap to Reality’ which premiered at the North American College with a guest appearance from Antonia Acutis, Carlo’s mother who gave a few words on the film and thoughts on her son’s life.  

On the eve of the canonizations of Pier Georgio and Carlo, Italian Catholic Action organized an evening prayer vigil at the Basilica of St John the Baptist of the Florentines focusing on the life of Pier Giorgio Frassati. The evening was filled with prayer, music and reflecting upon the life of the 24-year-old Italian Saint. 

Bianka from Boston spoke about her devotion to the saint.  “I’ve particularly been friends with,” she said, “most definitely been friends with Pier Giorgio Frassati for quite a long time. I consider, saints are our friends if they lead us closer to Christ, and he’s definitely done that for me, in more ways that I can probably describe.”

Dani from Texas said, “This is actually really exciting for me, I mean they are two people we can look up to obviously, I think a lot of people understand that that’s what the whole point of the canonization is, for us to realize these two people lived heroic lives, of heroic virtue and we get to do that too."

The Catholic Church, now two Saints richer, will continue, to use the examples of St Carlo Acutis and St Pier Giorgio Frassati, to show that Sainthood is attainable today. With Carlo’s love for the Eucharist and Pier’s compassion for the poor, they show us that by staying close to Christ and loving our neighbors, we can find the path to heaven. 

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Adapted by Jacob Stein

Produced by Alexey Gotovsky; Camera by Eelis Lampola, Andrea Manna, Sergio Natoli; Video Edited by Alessio Di Cintio; Special thanks & Credits: CTV, Vatican Media