Pope recognises second miracle by ‘God’s influencer’ as the Catholic Church prepares to canonise its first gamer saint—and yep, one of his favourites was Halo

A teenager known as “God’s influencer” who spread the gospel on the web and loved videogames is to be canonised as a saint, the Vatican has announced. Carlo Acutis was born in 1991 and will become the Catholic Church’s first “millennial saint” after his canonization was approved by cardinals convened by Pope Francis.

Acutis died in 2006 at 15 years old from leukaemia, but dedicated his short life to spreading awareness of the Catholic faith and helping the poor. He was born in London to Italian parents but would go on to spend most of his life in Milan. Acutis is remembered by family as enjoying playing videogames such as Halo (naturally), Super Mario and Pokémon, and had a PlayStation from eight years old: though the devout young man limited himself to one hour’s play a day.