On September 7th, 2025, Carlo Acutis will be canonized by Pope Leo, making him the first millennial to be recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church. While he’s especially known for a devotion to the Eucharist, we at CGR take particular interest in a few of his hobbies: computer science and video games. This article summarizes what is publicly known about his geeky interests, and makes a case for proclaiming him the patron saint of gamers and programmers.
Computer Science
Often regarded as a computer whiz, Carlo Acutis was skilled in Adobe Dreamweaver (a web design IDE), Ubuntu (a popular Linux distribution) as well as the widely used coding languages Java and C++. Using these skills he created the website www.miracolieucaristici.org, which documented Eucharistic Miracles throughout the world and is still available today. An exhibition of the Eucharistic Miracles documented by him have been shown at parishes and college campuses throughout the world for the past several years.
I work in tech, and can confidently say calling him a computer “whiz” is not an understatement. C++ is a more difficult language to learn compared to currently popular ones such as Python or Java, and the fact that he used Linux at all suggests he wasn’t just another kid playing around on his parent’s computer. And of course, it wasn’t as easy to launch a website back in 2006.
Video Games
Of course, we have to talk about his experience with video games. Its been reported he owned a PlayStation and played Halo with a friend. His mother told CNA that his favorite games were Pokémon and Super Mario. Seeing as Pokémon and Mario are always exclusive to Nintendo consoles, and Halo was exclusive to Xbox at the time, it seems that he had experience with all of the “Big 3” gaming companies (Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft). That’s a pretty wide range of experiences, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he played some games on PC as well.
Now, we’ve heard about some of the game series he enjoyed, but which titles did he play specifically?
I haven’t seen this specified anywhere, so we’ll have to do some guesswork. Starting with the easiest to pin down – the Halo he played with his friend would have been either Halo: Combat Evolved or Halo 2 as those are the only titles in the franchise to launch before his death in 2006.
When it comes to Super Mario games, it’s not as easy to pin down what he may have been playing. The N64 and GameCube were the big Nintendo home consoles for his time, but I think it’s more likely that he had a Game Boy (if he owned a Nintendo console at all, that is – perhaps he was just playing with friends.) Therefore I’ll take a shot in the dark and guess that he played the Super Mario Land series of games on Game Boy.
Growing up in the 90’s, he was around for the famous Pokémon craze of 1999 and 2000. I think it’s most likely he played Pokémon Red & Blue or Pokémon Gold & Silver, which were around for this fad – but there’s a chance he also got to play Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire, which launched in 2002, or Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen from 2004.
Finally, as for the PlayStation, well, we know he owned one, but not what he played on it. It also could have been a PlayStation 1 or 2. In Fr. Will Conquer’s book A Millennial in Paradise: Carlo Acutis it is said that he had “car-racing and action-adventure games”, and since the best selling-game on the PS1 is the racing game Gran Turismo, with its third sequel being the second best-seller on the PS2, there’s a good chance he took that series for a spin. He may have also played Crash Bandicoot or Spyro the Dragon, both action games.
It is important to remember that while Carlo was enjoying the wide range of experiences the gaming industry had to offer, he made sure to take it all in moderation. He limited himself to just an hour per week, ensuring that he left adequate time for the more important things in life, such as attending Mass, doing his schoolwork, and serving the poor. His gaming hobby isn’t what made him great, it’s just something that makes him relatable. It was because of his love for God and God’s will that Carlo became a saint.
St. Carlo Acutis, pray for us!
