Pope Leo XIV proclaimed the Italians Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati saints -- the first canonizations of Leo's pontificate -- before a crowd of thousands in St. Peter's Square on Sunday.

Frassati's spiritual biographer, Fr. Paolo Asolan, addressed devotees of the new saint hours before his canonization in Rome.

All weekend, Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Rancho Cucamonga is hosting a first-class relic of Blessed Carlo Acutis – who is being canonized into sainthood Sunday, Sept. 7, along with Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, in the Vatican – and a bone relic of St. Bernardine of Siena, the patron saint of the San Bernardino Diocese.

The canonizations of Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati will be a crucial step in a decades-long effort to attract people to the Catholic faith through young, holy patrons.

If Carlo Acutis is the Church’s new digital saint, Pier Giorgio Frassati is its original youth icon. Born in Turin in 1901, Frassati was the son of a newspaper magnate and a diplomat — raised in privilege,

In a well-circulated photo, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati appears to pause during a mountain hike and leans against his walking stick, smoking a pipe. His posture is relaxed and confiden

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati died almost 100 years ago, but he would have fit in perfectly with many Catholics' groups of friends.

Actor Jeromy Darling, who portrayed Pier Giorgio Frassati at the premiere of Open Window Theatre’s Frassati back in 2021, will continue in this role on the road, far and wide from its St. Paul, Minnesota, beginnings. Darling knows the power of saints’ stories.

Just over a century after his untimely death, Italian activist, social justice champion and third-order Dominican Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati will officially be canonized by Pope Leo XIV Sept. 7 at St.