It’s rare to see religion and gaming go together, but that’s all about to change as the Catholic Church will be naming its first gamer saint. Carlo Acutis was an Italian teenager who loved to play video games and was fairly religious throughout his life, so this is an interesting pick to say the least.
According to CNN, Acutis won’t just be the first gaming saint but the first millenial one as well since he was born in 1991. The Italian teenager died in 2006 at the age of 15 due to leukemia, so this is a very interesting way to honor his memory.
Reports claim that Acutis was a big fan of gaming, known to play games like Halo, Mario, and Pokémon, among other titles. It seems that Acutis didn’t want to dedicate too much time into the hobby, as he only played one hour a day to avoid addiction.
The main reason this gamer saint is being canonized is due to a website he setup, detailing some various miracles happening around the globe. Acutis also helped his local church and was known as a kind boy to everyone who knew him. His work here earned him the nickname “God’s influencer,” due to all of the good deeds he did while he was alive.
“As I did, you too can become holy,” Acutis’ mother Antonia Salzano told CNN. “Nevertheless, (with) all the media, the technologies, it seems sometimes that holiness is something that belongs to the past. Instead, holiness is also something nowadays in this modern time.”
While this is definitely a nice gesture, it will be interesting to see if the Catholic Church does decide to canonize more gamer saints in the future. Granted, being a gamer isn’t the most important aspect of religion, so maybe aiming for more millenials or gen-z audiences will work. Either way, this is a very interesting development and one that we thought would never happen.