(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 25.03.2025).- The Fabric of Saint Peter and Minecraft Education created a videogame as an educational experience, in which the students explore the Vatican’s Basilica, its history and community, facing practical challenges while participating as craftsmen and restorers.
“Peter is Here: AI for Cultural Heritage” introduces the player in an interactive process of history and artificial intelligence of exploration in the Vatican Basilica. The settings have been digitally reconstructed, blending artistic beauty and spirituality.
Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, Archpriest of the Vatican Basilica, presented the initiative at the headquarters of the Foreign Press Association of Rome. In the press conference he pointed out that the objective of this project is “to bring people closer to Saint Peter’s Basilica through artificial intelligence and also to foster a spiritual experience.” The Cardinal considers it a synergy between humanism and technology.
“Peter Is Here: AI for Cultural Heritage” gives life to the patrimony of Saint Peter’s Basilica, immersing one in the interactive virtual world of Minecraft through the block game. The adventure begins by introducing the player in the Tomb of Saint Peter, with the archaeological research
carried out in the 20th century. Key research moments continue, contributing to the virtual restoration of the remains found.
The tour avoids virtual isolation and fosters a sense of community and collaboration in the task of preserving the cultural heritage. The Basilica becomes a meeting point between tradition and technology.
The Cardinal recalled that, in a recent letter to the Director of Corrière della Sera, Pope Francis pointed out the need to “disarm words” and “arm hearts with the desire of beauty and brotherhood.” The intention of the videogame is to give young people and adults “the possibility to know Saint Peter and the Vatican Basilica.”
The game offers teachers, students and parents, material for collaborative team work and debate. It includes group tasks inspired in the real restoration, guided debates about the meaning of the activities done in the videogame and documentation tools, such as Portfolio, where the students register and share their reflections.
The project enriches the historical and spiritual knowledge of those taking part in it and stimulates reflection on the value of the conservation of the common patrimony, enabling access to the beauty and value of an emblematic place of the world.
The game can be downloaded for free at: Minecraft Education: Free Download and Installation on Windows and Microsoft Store.
