Pope Leo Canonizes Simpsons-Loving Coder and Fighter Against Fascism
Carlo Acutis, the first millennial saint, coded websites and loved The Simpsons. Pier Giorgio Frassati scaled mountains and fought fascism in Italy.
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This morning, Pope Leo canonized Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati — his first two saints and a pointed signal about the kind of holiness the Church wants to hold up for this century.
With Acutis, the Church names its first millennial saint; with Frassati, it elevates a lay activist who stared down fascism and poured himself out for the poor.
Together, they tell young Catholics: don’t withdraw — engage.
Carlo Acutis (1991–2006) was a kid of the early internet: he loved The Simpsons, video games, and taught himself to code.
He built a website to catalog Eucharistic miracles long before “digital evangelization” became a buzzword.
His cause moved forward after Pope Francis recognized the second miracle needed for canonization, and Pope Leo completed the process this week.
If you’re trying to reach Gen Z and young millennials, this is the story: a teenager who prayed, played, and programmed — and used the web not to be a jerk, but to witness to God’s love.
Pier Giorgio Frassati (1901–1925) was a different kind of radical.
A mountaineer and engineering student from Turin, he spent his short life organizing charitable efforts, defending the faith in the streets, and openly resisting the rise of Italian fascism years before Mussolini consolidated power.
His canonization was cleared when Pope Francis approved a miracle attributed to his intercession; Pope Leo has now named him a saint.
In an age suspicious of institutions and hungry for credibility, Frassati offers the rare mix of prayer, joy, and public courage.
As an avid mountain climber, his signature motto was verso l’alto — “to the heights.”
It matters that both causes were pushed forward by Francis and proclaimed by Leo.
The handoff is intentional: the Church is telling young people that holiness isn’t escape from the world — it’s engagement with it.
For Acutis, that meant sanctifying the digital world: code, curate, and create for the good.
For Frassati, it meant sanctifying public life: confronting violent ideologies, building communities, and putting your body where your beliefs are.
Canonizations don’t fix credibility problems on their own, but they do reshape the imagination.
Today’s canonizations say plainly: the Church wants your gifts — your screen time and your street time — and it expects you to spend both on love of God and neighbor.
At a time in our country where people are once again arguing about vaccines, a man who died from polio was canonized a saint. I read both of their stories. They had short lives but God is using them for a greater purpose.
When will we see the Vatican canonize those who spoke out and fought against clerical sex abuse in the 20th and 21st centuries? Probably when Stalin rises from the dead and becomes a Buddhist pacifist.