Carlo Acutis sainthood reflects Vatican desire to attract a new generation of Catholics

The Italian teenager Carlo Acutis, who died in 2006 of a rare form of leukemia at age 15, will soon become the Catholic Church’s first “millennial saint.”

Acutis was a computer programmer who created virtual exhibitions and databases on Eucharistic miracles – when the bread and wine are believed to change into the physical body and blood of Jesus – and the reported sightings of the Virgin Mary. Although the specific date has not been announced, the Vatican indicated that his canonization...