Acutis to be canonised as part of Vatican's Jubilee Year events in Rome.

Blessed Carlo Acutis, a Italian who died of leukaemia in 2006 at the age of 15, will be canonised at the Vatican on 27 April as part of the Jubilee of Teenagers in Rome.

Known as "God's influencer" for creating a website dedicated to Eucharistic miracles and for using his computer skills to spread the faith, Acutis will become the Catholic Church's first "millennial saint".

Acutis was born in London on 3 May 1991 but grew up in the northern Italian city of Milan. He died in hospital in nearby Monza on 12 October 2006.

In keeping with his dying wish, his body was transferred to the central Italian hilltop town of Assisi, reflecting his great devotion to St Francis.

Over the past year more than one million pilgrims have flocked to Assisi to venerate Acutis whose body - clad in jeans, a sweatshirt and sneakers - is displayed behind protective glass in the Sanctuary of the Renunciation, part of the Church of St Mary Major.

Acutis was beatified Pope Francis on 10 October 2020 after a miracle was attributed to him when a Brazilian child diagnosed with a congenital disease was cured after his mother prayed for the intercession of the Italian teenager.

The beatification made Acutis the Catholic Church's first "blessed" millennial - referring to a person born in the early 1980s to late 1990s.

A second miracle attributed to Acutis came in 2024, paving the way for his canonisation, when a 21-year-old university student from Costa Rica recovered after incurring a severe head injury in a bicycle accident while she was studying in Florence in 2022.

Despite her critical condition, the woman made a full recovery after her mother made a pilgrimage to Assisi and sought the intercession of Acutis.

Italian prosecutors recently opened an investigation into the illegal online sale of alleged relics of Blessed Carlo Acutis after the bishop of Assisi filed a formal complaint.

The Mass and canonisation of Blessed Carlo Acutis will take place in St Peter's Square on 27 April, Divine Mercy Sunday, at 10.30 as part of the Vatican's Jubilee Year calendar of events.

Photo credit: Adrian Tusar / Shutterstock.com.