Africa Digital Assets Summit in Nairobi highlights ethical tech, with Vatican envoy warning digital systems may render the poor invisible.
Newsroom (11/05/2026 Gaudium Press ) Held April 29–30 at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA), the summit was organized by Crescite Innovation Corporation under the theme “Ethical Stewardship for the Love of the Poor.” First announced in February by ACI Africa, the event drew inspiration from Pope Leo XIV’s Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi Te, which emphasizes love for the poor as a guiding principle.
According to ADAS co-convener Eddie Cullen, organizers distributed copies of Dilexi Te to all participants, signaling a deliberate effort to anchor technological discussions in moral and spiritual reflection.
“The event was a resounding success as we handed out copies of Dilexi Te to all attendees, and His Excellency Archbishop Bert Van Megen delivered an exceptional keynote address,” Cullen said in feedback shared on May 11. He added that organizers hope to expand “technology inspired by Dilexi Te to more projects in Africa” and continue spreading “the love of Christ across the continent.”
A Warning on Digital Exclusion
The summit’s keynote address by Archbishop Bert Van Megen, the Apostolic Nuncio to Kenya, framed technological innovation as a deeply moral issue. Speaking on “The Intersection of Faith, Ethics, and Technological Development,” the Vatican diplomat cautioned that systems such as artificial intelligence, fintech platforms, and digital identity infrastructures are evolving into powerful mechanisms of governance.
“These systems determine access to credit, healthcare, mobility, and even citizenship itself,” he said, warning that exclusion is no longer overt but increasingly “encoded.”
Archbishop van Megen emphasized that individuals lacking stable digital identities or financial histories risk being silently excluded from algorithm-driven systems. “The poor are not excluded explicitly… They are filtered out silently,” he noted, explaining how irregular income or participation in informal economies can be interpreted as financial risk by automated systems.
He described this phenomenon as “invisibility by design,” where vulnerable populations are “present in life, but absent in the data that drives decisions.”
Challenging the Myth of Neutral Technology
A central theme of the address was the rejection of technological neutrality. Archbishop van Megen argued that all digital systems reflect human choices about what to measure and prioritize.
“Technology is never simply a passive tool,” he said, citing Pope Benedict XVI’s Caritas in Veritate: “It reveals man and his aspirations.”
He warned that as access to essential services becomes increasingly mediated through digital platforms, control over those systems translates into social power. If concentrated, he said, such power risks amplifying inequality rather than alleviating it.
Toward Ethical System Design
Rather than focusing solely on individual responsibility, the Vatican envoy called for what he termed “structural ethics,” urging that moral considerations be embedded into the design of technological systems.
He proposed several principles:
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Prioritizing the needs of the most vulnerable users.
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Preserving non-digital alternatives to prevent exclusion.
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Building accountability into digital infrastructures.
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Allowing flexibility where rigid systems may produce unjust outcomes.
These recommendations draw on Catholic Social Teaching, including the dignity of the human person, solidarity, and the common good.
Archbishop van Megen also called on the Church to take a proactive role in shaping technological development, advocating for ethical frameworks, inclusive policies, and leadership formation that integrates faith with innovation.
The Moral Stakes of Innovation
In closing, the Apostolic Nuncio underscored that technological advancement cannot be separated from ethical responsibility.
“We are not merely building technologies,” he said. “We are constructing the moral architecture of the future—the conditions under which human life will flourish or fail.”
He left participants with a defining question: as digital systems reshape societies, “will they recognize the poor, or render them invisible?”
- Raju Hasmukh with files from ACI Africa
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