A Vatican video game? New Minecraft edition has students restore St. Peter’s Basilica

Students try out the new Minecraft Education experience “Peter Is Here: AI for Cultural Heritage” during a press conference unveiling the project on March 18, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA Vatican City, Mar 19, 2025 / 13:45 pm (CNA). Minecraft, the popular video game known for its blocky, pixelated graphics, has launched a new educational edition that challenges students to explore and restore St. Peter’s Basilica. Michelangelo’s dome, Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s colonnade, and the ancient tomb of the Apostle Peter have been recreated within Minecraft’s iconic digital world of 3D cubes and retro gaming aesthetic. Microsoft and the Vatican unveiled the game, “Peter Is Here: AI for Cultural Heritage,” at a press event in Rome on March 18. The project is the latest step in their collaboration on an AI-enhanced experience of St. Peter’s Basilica. Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica and president of the Fabric of St. Peter, discusses the new Minecraft Education experience “Peter Is Here: AI for Cultural Heritage” during a press conference unveiling the project on March 18, 2025, at the Vatican. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNACardinal Mauro Gambetti, the archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, placed the educational video game under the patronage of St. Joseph, who was “the educator par excellence of the child of God.” “Those who play with St. Peter’s Basilica in Minecraft Education have the opportunity to try their hand at creative architectural interventions, to discover the history of the basilica, to restore it, and to enter into the hidden meanings that it holds,” the cardinal said. Restoring the Vatican, one block at a time Designed for students aged 8–18, the game allows players to take on roles of skilled craftsmen and restoration workers responsible for maintaining St. Peter’s Basilica. By completing restoration tasks, they earn golden papal key tokens while learning about the basilica’s history, art, and architecture. Eleven-year-old Michael Sterpi was one of the lucky students selected to test out the game.  “I play Minecraft on Xbox and PC at home,” Sterpi told CNA. “This game is like really, really, cool. With each block, they made the whole Vatican!” Sterpi, who has been studying the life of Blessed Carlo Acutis in school, said he thinks that Carlo “would love this game.” Yet, the student from Rome’s Jesuit-run Massimiliano Massimo Institute was quick to point out that nothing can replace seeing St. Peter’s Basilica in person. “The real thing is much better, obviously,” he said. Eleven-year-old Michael Sterpi was one of the lucky students selected to test out the new game. “I play Minecraft on Xbox and PC at home,” Sterpi told CNA. “This game is like really, really, cool. With each block, they made the whole Vatican!” Credit: Courtney Mares/CNAMinecraft as an educational tool? The new Vatican edition is part of Microsoft’s larger effort to bring cultural and religious history to life through digital learning in Minecraft Education. “Introducing complex topics to students in an immersive 3D virtual world makes challenging concepts easier to understand,” Allison Matthews, head of Minecraft Education at Microsoft, said at the game’s Rome premiere. “We’ve created a lot of classroom-ready resources that educators can download to make it very easy,” she added. Minecraft Education also features other religious and cultural sites, such as Syria’s Monastery of St. Elian — an ancient Christian church destroyed by the Islamic State — available in the UNESCO’s History Blocks edition of the game. A different edition lets students explore the monuments of ancient Rome. “Peter Is Here: AI for Cultural Heritage” is part of the broader project “St. Peter’s Basilica: AI-Enhanced Experience,” the result of a collaboration between the Fabric of St. Peter, Microsoft, and Iconem, a company specializing in the digital preservation of cultural heritage. Credit: MicrosoftThe game’s launch comes at a time when video games are often viewed with skepticism, especially in educational settings.  Mauro Antonelli, the head of Italy’s technical secretariat for the Ministry of Education and Merit, acknowledged a need to “counter gaming addiction” among young people today but called the initiative an example of how technology can serve educational purposes. “It is really a paradigm shift — gaming is often seen with a negative connotation,” he said. The Vatican’s involvement reflects a growing interest in artificial intelligence, social media, and digital tools that engage younger generations.  In April, the Catholic Church is expected to canonize Carlo Acutis, a 15-year-old who loved video games, as the first computer-coding saint during a worldwide gathering of teenagers at the Vatican. Franciscan Father Enzo Fortunato, the director of communications for St. Peter’s Basilica, also suggested that the Minecraft game could become the official game of the Vatican’s next World Children’s Day event in S