Who is Carlo Acutis, 'God's influencer'? Local priest speaks on first millennial saint

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) -- Pope Leo XIV recently named a 15-year-old computer whiz as the Catholic Church's first-ever millennial saint who used technology to spread the faith and earned him the nickname, "God's influencer."

Carlo Acutis, who died in 2006 from leukemia, was canonized during a Catholic Mass in St. Peter's Square on Sunday, Sept. 7, in front of a mostly-millennial crowd that included couples with young children.

• Watch the interview with Father Chris Bongato of St. Martin of Tours in La Mesa on Good Morning San Diego in the video player above

Acutis was born on May 3, 1991, in London but raised in Italy. Aside from actively practicing Catholicism, he enjoyed playing video games and had an interest in computers.

He earned the nickname, "God's influencer," after he built a website documenting miracles around the world in nearly 20 different languages.

The website, described as an "international exhibition," included maps, videos and other tools that were regarded as useful for Catholic parishes around the world.

For Father Chris Bongato, of St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church in La Mesa, Acutis has left a lasting legacy on the next generation of churchgoers. Bongato, who said he was born just one year after Acutis, joined Paul Rudy on Good Morning San Diego on Monday, Sept. 8 to discuss the young saint.

"Within the church, we say all those people who have died in God's favor are all saints in heaven," Fr. Bongato said. "But to be a canonized saint, we know through their witness and example, and through other people's experiences of that person, and miracles associated with them, to become a saint."

Acutis' mother, Antonia Salzano, said her son used to say that "all are born original, many die as photocopies."

"When we think of, even today, social media, we can see that all of us maybe are trying to be a copy-and-paste of people we see on the internet, but God has made us all original," Fr. Bongato said.

Fr. Bongato said he continues to see Acutis' influence on the next generation of practicing Catholics, saying that he has seen more and more young people attending church on Sundays.