Pope Leo XIV urged Catholic priests to resist the growing temptation to rely on artificial intelligence (AI) in their pastoral work, warning that technology can never substitute for lived faith, prayer, or personal encounter.
During a meeting with priests in Rome, the Pope emphasized that effective ministry begins with genuine closeness to the people a priest serves, not with shortcuts or pre-packaged messages. Drawing on his own experience living in Rome at different points in his life, Leo noted that while the city’s streets may look the same, “life has changed so much,” requiring priests to deeply understand the realities of their communities.
“To speak with these people, we must begin by knowing their reality as deeply as possible,” the Pope said, recalling a recent parish visit to the southern Roman neighborhood of Ostia.
That emphasis on personal engagement framed one of the strongest warnings of the address: a direct rejection of AI-generated homilies.
“No to homilies prepared with artificial intelligence,” Leo said, cautioning that reliance on AI weakens a priest’s intellectual and spiritual life. “Like all the muscles in the body, if we do not use them, they die,” he explained. “The brain needs to be used … our intelligence must also be exercised.”
While acknowledging that technology can serve practical functions, the Pope stressed that preaching is fundamentally an act of witness, something AI cannot replicate. “To give a true homily is to share faith,” Leo said. “Artificial intelligence will never be able to share faith.”
Those remarks are consistent with the warnings Leo delivered earlier in his pontificate. In his first major address as pope, he cautioned against allowing emerging technologies to replace moral responsibility, saying that innovation must remain “at the service of the human person” and never displace conscience or judgment.
In a subsequent Vatican address on technology and ethics, Leo warned that AI can create the illusion of wisdom without understanding, noting that “no machine can bear moral responsibility, and no algorithm can replace the formation of the heart.”
That concern resurfaced as the Pope turned to the broader digital culture, particularly social media. Leo cautioned priests against the illusion that online popularity, measured in likes or followers, constitutes authentic evangelization.
“An illusion on the internet, on TikTok,” he said, is to believe one is truly giving oneself in pursuit of visibility. “It is not you: if we are not transmitting the message of Jesus Christ, perhaps we are mistaken.”
Instead, the Pope underscored the necessity of a disciplined prayer life, warning against treating prayer as a mere routine rather than time genuinely spent with God. Only a life “authentically rooted in the Lord,” he said, allows priests to offer something real and lasting to their communities.
The remarks build on repeated statements Leo XIV has made about AI since shortly after his election. In a message to the Builders AI Forum 2025, he urged that AI development be grounded in respect for human dignity and justice, saying that technology must “reflect the design of God the Creator,” and that “the question is not merely what AI can do, but who we are becoming through the technologies we build.”
His broader caution about the digital age extends beyond clergy and developers but to all believers and society at large. In a 2026 message for the World Day of Social Communications, the Pope underscored that digital technologies, including AI systems capable of simulating voices and faces, risk altering essential dimensions of human communication and identity. Preserving human faces and voices, he said, “means preserving this mark, this indelible reflection of God’s love.”
Taken together, the remarks reflect a defining theme of Leo XIV’s pontificate: a cautious approach to technological power paired with a firm insistence on human presence, moral responsibility, and personal encounter. As AI continues to spread into creative, professional, and even religious spaces, the Pope’s message draws a clear boundary between tools that assist ministry and practices that hollow it out.