The Minting of Millennial Saints

Politics and religion make strange bedfellows

By Mary Ann Mueller

VOL Special Correspondent

www.virtueonline.org

September 29, 2025

In September, two new Millennial saints were created – the first Carlo Acutis (lifespan 1991-2006) canonized by the Roman Catholic Church; the other Charlie Kirk (lifespan 1993-2025) minted by the American Republican Party.

Both millennials shared a common name – Charles. Carlos is Spanish for Charles and Charlie is a familiar nickname for Charles.

The Millennials – sandwiched between Gen X and Gen Z – born between 1981-1996 are sometimes called the Y Generation. They are the up-and-coming-of-age generation who have already stepped into the mainstream of academia, finance, medicine, entertainment, media, the arts, sports, law enforcement, activism, science, the military, politics, judicial, social action, and religion.

The Millennial generation is a mixture of saints and sinners, heroes and scoundrels, the virtuous and villains. They include: Pop star Beyoncé (1981); World class tennis player Serena Williams (1981); Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg Prince Guillaume (1981); Columbine High School shooting survivor Anne Marie Hochhalter (1981); Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (1982); William, the Prince of Wales (1982); 2019 Miss America Nia Franklin (1983); FOX News White House correspond Kristin Anne Fisher (1983); Social media developer & entrepreneur Mark Zuckerberg (1984); Political commentator Ben Shapiro (1984); North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un (1984); Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Salman (1985); Ukraine Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko (1985); Jamaican Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt (1986); Chile President Gabriel Borde (1986); Lubbock, Texas Chief Prosecuting Attorney Laura Beth Fossett (1986); French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecorne (1986); US Sen. Jon Ossoff (1987); Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Federal Judge Whitney Hermandorfer (1987); British Olympian Sir Andy Murray (1887); Ecuador President Daniel Noboa (1987); American Grammy-winning Rapper Lizzo (1988); Iceland Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadóltir (1988); and grieving widow & mother Erika Kirk (1988).

ALSO: CNN Political Reporter Andrew Kaczynski (1989); US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (1989); Competitive Dutch Dart player Michael van Gerwen (1989); American Grammy winning singer Taylor Swift (1989); Washtenaw County, Michigan Sheriff Alyshia Dyer (1990); Federal Judge Joshua Divine (1990); Progressive Episcopal priest Fr. Charles Graves, IV (1990); British NHS Surgeon Dr. Karan Rajan (1991); Catholic Saint Carlo Acutis (1991); British Olympic cyclist Dame Laura Kenny (1992); Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk (1993); PGA Golfer Justin Thomas (1993); Canadian Pop star Justin Bieber (1994); Mass murderer on death row Dylann Roof (1994); alleged Episcopal boarding school sex games participate Owen Labrie (1995); American gymnast Olympic gold medal winner Gabby Douglas (1995); NFL Quarterback Patrick Mahomes (1996); Transgender influencer Dylan Mulvany (1996) … there are an estimated 78 million millennials in the United States alone.

For some reason Kirk's death on the campus of Utah Valley University struck a chord. The death instantly produced a lot of political rhetoric on both sides of the aisle and free speech battles resulting in jobs being lost for perceived unfavorable comments. But, unlike with the 2020 death of George Floyd, the country did not erupt into violence, looting, fire bombs and riots.

Last Sunday (Sept. 21) Kirk was honored at a massive five-hour memorial service which was more political than religious. It drew the heavy hitters of the Republican Party including President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, presidential cabinet members and a congressional delegation.

Kirk's memorial service was one of the largest memorial service gatherings in recent memory for a nongovernmental private citizen.

His service drew a total crowd of 73,000 in Phoenix’s State Farm Stadium, another 20,000 overflowing into the Desert Diamond Arena.

In 1977 Elvis Presley drew a crowd of 80,000 in Memphis. The Martin Luther King funeral procession was 150,000 strong in 1968. More than 14,000 showed up to honor Muhammad Ali in 2016 and when Billy Graham died in 2018 more than 13,000 filed past his casket lying in state in Washington, DC's Capitol Rotunda.

Presley was a pop singer, King was a civil rights leader, Ali was a boxer, Graham was a religious leader, and Kirk was a conservative millennial political debater.

Wikipedia lists Kirk's gathering as the third largest memorial/funeral outpouring on American soil in living memory following that of President John F. Kennedy's 1963 State Funeral and MLK’s funeral rites in 1968. As the sitting American president JFK was the highest-ranking government official in the land. His state funeral drew international heads of state. More than one million people lined the streets of Washington to witness his funeral caisson pass by.

But in this age of the Internet and social media millions tuned in to follow Kirk's highly politicalized religious service. Since his untimely September 10 death, he has become idolized and his memory has been met with adulation. FOX reports that more than 100 million followed Kirk's service live online.

Because of his strong attachment to politics his death has been elevated to an assassination. Some have even tried to call him a martyr. But martyrdom is reserved for those who die proclaiming Christ with their final breath or die because they are believing Christians or Jews. Technically the millions of World War II Jewish Holocaust victims at Nazi hands could be considered martyrs because they died specifically because they were Jewish. Although the Jewish mindset sees it somewhat differently.

Others have equated Kirk as a modern-day Old Testament prophet crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the Lord.”

Open Doors reports: “Every day, an average of more than 12 Christians are killed for their faith. That’s one Christian every two hours … murdered because they follow Jesus.”

That is true modern-day martyrdom. Dying for the faith not for political leanings or cultural ideology. Many die daily in Africa at the hands of radical Islamists.

Open Doors, founded by Brother Andrew van der Bijl to smuggle Bibles behind the Iron Curtain, keeps track of violence, persecution and the killing of Christians worldwide.

Charlie Kirk was a millennial political advocate who happened to be a very strong evangelical Christian. He was raised Presbyterian but at his death was a part of the Calvary Chapel network with its charismatic leanings. His widow, Erika, is a Roman Catholic who is reportedly a daily Mass-goer, and some reports say that Charlie had an interest in exploring more about his wife's Catholic faith. He would go to church with her and his children are being raised as Catholics. He had not crossed the Tiber but was apparently testing the waters when he unexpectedly died.

However, Kirk was not defending to his death the Faith once delivered to the Saints as a single bullet felled him in Orem, Utah. He was discussing transgender violence.

Hunter Kozak, a 29-year-old Utah Valley University undergraduate student, was the final person to ask Kirk a question on the first leg of his American Comeback Tour on college campuses.

“Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” Kozak asked.

“Too many,” Kirk responded.

“Five,” Kozak noted.

“Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk queried.

Then a single shot rang out … Kirk was hit in the neck … he was rushed to the hospital where … he died.

Kirk was the public face of Turning Point USA which is aligned with the Christian Right and advocates for conservative politics on high school, college, and university campuses.

He is credited with helping to create and galvanize a millennial political coalition which helped to catapult Donald Trump back into the White House in 2024, just as conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh was critical in helping Trump first secure the White House in 2016. For that feat in 2020 Trump rewarded Limbaugh with the Presidential Medal of Freedom just a year before he died of lung cancer.

Trump has already announced that he will posthumously present the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Charlie Kirk for the political engagement which cost him his life.

CARLO ACUTIS

The actual Millennial saint that the Catholic Church has elevated is Carlo Acutis who was born two years before Kirk.

Young Carlos developed an interest in computers and was fond of video games. He also was dedicated to his faith and lived it to the fullest as a Catholic. He attended Mass and was devoted to Adoration. He led a fully Sacramental prayer life. Yet, he was a modern teen. He learned how to program and developed a website to track Eucharistic miracles. He died at 15 but showed that ordinary teen-agers and young people can be engaged in the fast-paced Internet world yet be loyal Christians and remain faithful to their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Carlos was frequently seen wearing a polo shirt with a laptop stuffed in his backpack. Pope Leo XIV canonized him on Sunday September 7, 2025 the same day that Hunter Kozak’s baby daughter was born and three days before Charlie Kirk met his death.

Initially Carlos Acutis was supposed to be canonized on April 27. But Pope Francis died on April 21, postponing Carlos’ ceremony until after the Conclave and election of a new pope. When the canonization happened on September 7 more than 80,000 from around the world found their way to the Vatican to witness the event. Almost as many as showed up for Kirk's memorial service in Arizona. Saint Carlos' feast day is October 12.

In October 2006, when Carlos died from leukemia, there was no one clamoring “Santo Subito” – Sainthood now! The Pope or the president nor the prime minister of Italy or the mayor Milan took notice. Throngs did not show up to his simple funeral.

Yet, eventually the Catholic Church started to take notice and realized there was something special about this teen. How he used his computer to evangelize. How he quietly lived out his faith. How he remained true to Christ.

Carlos Acutis eventually became the first canonized Millennial saint. Others will surely follow.

The last words the young teen uttered to his mother on his deathbed were: “Mom, don't be afraid. Since Jesus became a man, death has become the passage towards life, and we don't need to flee it. Let us prepare ourselves to experience something extraordinary in eternal life."

Mary Ann Mueller is a journalist living in Texas. She is a regular contributor to VirtueOnline.