The Vatican has announced the postponement of the canonisation of Carlo Acutis, who was set to become the Catholic Church's first millennial saint, following the death of Pope Francis on Monday (Apr 21).

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Acutis, who died from leukaemia in 2006 at the age of 15, was scheduled to be canonised on April 27 in a mass at the Holy See. In a statement released Monday, the Vatican said the ceremony would be delayed.

"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," the statement read. 

Who is Carlo Acutis?

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Carlo Acutis will be the first millennial (people born between the early 1980s and the mid-1990s to early 2000s) to be canonised. He was a British-born Italian web designer who designed a website catalogue of Eucharistic miracles and approved Marian apparitions. He died aged 15 in 2006 and since his passing, a series of miracles have been attributed to him.

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In 2020, he was beatified by Pope Francis. Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name.

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His canonisation — declaration of a deceased person as a saint — was scheduled to happen on 27 April 2025. However, no new date has yet been announced for the canonisation ceremony.

How is a person canonised?

The right to officially recognise a deceased person as a saint rests with the Catholic Church.

Canonisation is the official name given to the process of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of saints, or authorised list of that communion's recognised saints.

Also read | Thousands flock to view body of 'God's influencer' Carlo Acutis before canonisation; How does a person get recognised as saint?

For a person to be canonised, at least two miracles must have been performed through the intercession of the Blessed after their death.

For Carlo Acutis, the two miracles are: One case where he "interceded from heaven" to cure a child with a rare pancreatic disease, and another saw a woman's brain haemorrhage disappear after her mum prayed to Acutis to have her cured.