POPE LEO CANONIZES CARLO ACUTIS AND PIER GIORGIO FRASSATI

September 8, 2025 at 12:35 p.m.

A tapestry depicting St. Carlo Acutis hangs from the facade of St. Peter’s Basilica during a canonization Mass at the Vatican Sept. 7, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez) **(Lola Gomez)**

More than 80,000 people gather in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican for the canonization Mass for Sts. Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis celebrated by Pope Leo XIV Sept. 7, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez) **(Lola Gomez)**

A young woman holds a picture of Blessed Carlo Acutis on the day Pope Leo XIV leads the canonization Mass of Acutis, a British-born Italian boy who will become the first millennial to be made a Catholic saint, and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sept. 7, 2025. (OSV News photo/Guglielmo Mangiapane, Reuters) **(Guglielmo Mangiapane)**

Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican for the canonizations of Sts. Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis Sept. 7, 2025. A tapestry with the image of Carlo Acutis hangs from St. Peter’s Basilica during the liturgy. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez) **(Lola Gomez)**

Reliquaries containing the relics of St. Carlo Acutis and St. Pier Giorgio Frassati stand at the foot of a statue of Mary during the canonization Mass celebrated by Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Sept. 7, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez) **(Lola Gomez)**

A nun holds a picture of Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati on the day Pope Leo XIV leads the canonization Mass of Blessed Carlo Acutis, a British-born Italian boy who will become the first millennial to be made a Catholic saint, and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sept. 7, 2025. (OSV News photo/Matteo Minnella, Reuters) **(Matteo Minnella)**

More than 80,000 people gather in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican for the canonization Mass of Sts. Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis celebrated by Pope Leo XIV Sept. 7, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez) **(Lola Gomez)**

A person holds up an artwork on the day Pope Leo XIV leads the canonization Mass of Blessed Carlo Acutis, a British-born Italian boy who will become the first millennial to be made a Catholic saint, and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sept. 7, 2025. (OSV News/Matteo Minnella, Reuters) **(Matteo Minnella)**

A tapestry depicting St. Pier Giorgio Frassati hangs from the facade of St. Peter’s Basilica during the Mass for his canonization at the Vatican Sept. 7, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez) **(Lola Gomez)**

Michele Acutis, brother of St. Carlo Acutis, walks after doing the first reading at the canonization Mass in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Sept. 7, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez) **(Lola Gomez)**

More than 80,000 people gather in St. Peter’s Square and the wide boulevard leading to it for the canonization Mass for Sts. Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis celebrated by Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican Sept. 7, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez) **(Lola Gomez)**

Pope Leo XIV receives the offertory gifts from Antonia Salzano, mother of St. Carlo Acutis, and her family during the canonization Mass in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Sept. 7, 2025. From left to right are Francesca Acutis, Salzano, Andrea Acutis and Michele Acutis. (CNS photo/Vatican Media) **(Vatican Media)**

Pope Leo XIV celebrates the Mass for the canonization of Sts. Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Sept. 7, 2025. Banners with the images of the two new saints hang from the facade of St. Peter’s Basilica. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez) **(Lola Gomez)**

A woman holds a figure depicting Blessed Carlo Acutis on the day Pope Leo XIV leads the canonization Mass of Acutis, a British-born Italian boy who will become the first millennial to be made a Catholic saint, and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sept. 7, 2025. (OSV News photo/Guglielmo Mangiapane, Reuters) **(Guglielmo Mangiapane)**

A faithful holds a picture of Carlo Acutis, as Pope Leo XIV leads a Mass for the canonization of Carlo Acutis, a British-born Italian boy who will become the first millennial to be made a Catholic saint, and Pier Giorgio Frassati, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sept. 7, 2025. (OSV News photo/Matteo Minnella, Reuters) **(Matteo Minnella)**

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The greatest risk in life is to waste it by not seeking to follow God's plan, Pope Leo XIV said, proclaiming two new saints -- two young laymen of the 20th and 21st centuries.

"Sts. Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis are an invitation to all of us, especially young people, not to squander our lives, but to direct them upward and make them masterpieces," the pope said Sept. 7.

"The simple but winning formula of their holiness," he said, is accessible to everyone at any time. "They encourage us with their words: 'Not I, but God,' as Carlo used to say. And Pier Giorgio: 'If you have God at the center of all your actions, then you will reach the end.'"