Vatican issue major update on plan to make London teenager a saint after death of Pope Francis

Carlo Acutis was set to become the first millennial saint.

Carlo Acutis, who died aged 15 of leukaemia, was expected to become the Catholic church's first millennial saint this month.

The computer whiz-kid helped spread Catholic teachings online before his death in 2006.

Pope Francis previously declared that a second miracle had been attributed to Acutis, thus qualifying him for canonisation.

Additionally, the teenager was labelled 'the patron saint of the internet' for his work recording miracles and running online sites for Catholic organisations.

Acutis mainly became known for launching a website with the aim of documenting every reported Eucharistic miracle.

Launched online just days before his death, the website has since been translated into several different languages, and used as the basis for an exhibition which has travelled around the world.

So far 912 people have been canonised by Pope Francis. Out of these 912, the most recently born was in 1926; that is, until Acutis.

However in the immediate aftermath of the Pope's, the Vatican have now declared that Acutis' canonization will be postponed.

In a statement, they explained: "Following the death of the Sovereign Pontiff Francis, we inform you that the Eucharistic Celebration and Rite of Canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis... has been postponed."

Carlo's canonization has been in the works for nearly two decades since his death.

Acutis was born in 1991 and moved from London to Milan with his Italian parents, Andrea Acutis and Antonia Salzano, when he was just a child.

Salzano has previously spoken about her son, telling Corriere della Sera, that from the age of three, her son would often ask to visit churches in Milan and donated his pocket money to those less fortunate than himself.

Acutis was also said to have helped support classmates going through tough times, he defended children who were being bullied, and would take meals to those sleeping rough in Milan.

While still in primary school, Acutis taught himself how to code and later used his skills to build websites for Catholic organisations.

According to Catholic teachings, people can pray to those who are already deceased asking for them to speak to God on their behalf.

One could theoretically ask a deceased person if they could ask God to cure them of an illness for instance.

Pope Francis initially approved a miracle attributed to Acutis after learning that a seven-year-old Brazilian boy had recovered from a rare pancreatic disorder after coming into contact with a t-shirt belonging to Acutis.

A priest had also prayed to Acutis about the child.

A second miracle was then attributed to Acutis when a woman underwent a miraculous recovery following a serious bicycle injury in Florence in 2022.

The woman, Valeria Valverde, who was 21, underwent emergency brain surgery to reduce pressure and was told she was in a critical condition.

Her mother prayed for her recovery at the tomb of Acutis in Assisi six days after the incident and on the same day, the church says Valverde began to breathe without a ventilator and regained her speech and the use of her upper limbs.

Ten days later she was discharged from intensive care and scans shown that the contusion on her brain had gone.