He said the reality of AI in our world “comes to us even if we do not want it.”
By Catholics for Catholics
In a meeting with the clergy of the Diocese of Rome last Thursday, February 19, Pope Leo XIV clearly instructed priests to “resist the temptation to prepare homilies with artificial intelligence.”
“Just as all the muscles in the body die if we do not use them,” the Holy Father said, “if we do not move them, the brain needs to be used, so our intelligence, your intelligence, needs to be exercised a little so as not to lose this ability.”
But it takes much more than that,” he continued, “because to give a true homily, which is to share the faith, AI will never be able to share the faith!”
The pope also indicated that while prayer apps and resources available on our mobile phones are helpful and he himself has them, prayer must be more than “just the routine of reciting the breviary as quickly as possible.”
In the same meeting, the pope addressed the topics of the need for priests to be in continuous study and the loneliness many of the clergy experience. Elderly priests still have services to perform and their lives have great meaning, he said. The pope also encouraged having “a good confessor” who “can accompany you and help you in times of great difficulty,” and that these difficulties are not just in the period of old age, but ongoing throughout our lives.
Last week’s meeting was not the first time Pope Leo XIV has warned against artificial intelligence. In his message for the 60th World Day of Social Communications in January, he warned that AI might “encroach upon the deepest level of communication, that of human relationships.”
His Holiness cautioned against having “a naive and unquestioning reliance on artificial intelligence as an omniscient ‘friend,’ a source of all knowledge, an archive of every memory, an ‘oracle’ of all advice,” all of which “can further erode our ability to think analytically and creatively.”
Faces and voices – not artificial intelligence – should speak for people, the pope urged.
During the Jubilee of Governments, Pope Leo XIV met with legislators from various nations in the Vatican's Hall of Blessings and reminded them that artificial intelligence is a tool that should never replace people.
— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) June 21, 2025
Pointing out the biggest challenge of AI, he argued, "this is a… pic.twitter.com/jAzF0VrYZt
Save and Share This Catholic Patriotic Minute!
