Pope Leo’s 2026 World Day of Social Communications theme, “Preserving Human Voices and Faces,” urges AI and media literacy to combat deepfakes and misinformation.
Newsroom (29/09/2025, Gaudium Press ) In a move underscoring the Vatican’s growing concern over technological disruptions, Pope Leo XIV has selected “Preserving Human Voices and Faces” as the theme for the 60th World Day of Social Communications in 2026, spotlighting the escalating risks posed by artificial intelligence to authentic human interaction and truth in media.
The announcement, released by the Vatican on Monday, comes amid a surge in deepfake incidents targeting the pontiff himself, as the Church’s communications department grapples with fabricated videos and images depicting Pope Leo XIV in scenarios he never participated in. Celebrated annually on January 24, the feast day of St. Francis de Sales — the patron saint of journalists and writers — the World Day serves as a platform for reflection on media ethics and societal impact.
An accompanying explanatory note from the Vatican warns of AI’s potential to “generate engaging but misleading, manipulative, and harmful information,” while perpetuating biases and stereotypes embedded in training data. It further cautions against the amplification of disinformation through simulated human voices and faces, urging a proactive response to safeguard genuine communication.
This theme builds on Pope Leo XIV’s longstanding emphasis on AI as a double-edged sword, a priority he signaled from the outset of his pontificate. Elected earlier this year, the pope chose his regnal name in homage to Pope Leo XIII, aiming to confront emerging ethical dilemmas in technology, including AI’s threats to human dignity, justice, and labor. In his first address to media professionals in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall shortly after his election, he praised AI’s “immense potential” but stressed the imperative for responsibility and discernment to ensure it serves all humanity, while calling on news outlets to foster peace by eschewing aggressive rhetoric and a “war of words and images.”
The pope’s influence in the AI discourse has been widely recognized. In June 2025, Time magazine named him among its 25 most influential thinkers in AI, lauding his focus on the moral dimensions of the technology. At a Vatican-hosted conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Corporate Governance that same month, Pope Leo XIV highlighted AI’s promise in fields like healthcare and scientific discovery, but warned of its misuse for “selfish gain” or to “foment conflict and aggression.”
Echoing these concerns, the Vatican’s latest document advocates for embedding media and AI literacy into educational curricula worldwide to counter misinformation. “As Catholics we can and should give our contribution, so that people — especially youth — acquire the capacity of critical thinking and grow in the freedom of the spirit,” it states. The message underscores that “public communication requires human judgment, not just data patterns,” positioning humanity as the ultimate steward of technological progress.
This stance aligns with Pope Leo XIV’s broader calls for ethical governance of AI. Speaking via a message to the United Nations’ AI for Good Summit in July 2025, he urged global leaders to develop regulatory frameworks centered on human dignity and fundamental freedoms, noting AI’s transformative role in areas including communication. “The responsibility for the ethical use of AI systems begins with those who develop, manage, and oversee them,” he declared, adding that AI must foster discernment for the common good and build bridges of dialogue.
More recently, on September 15, 2025, addressing an international seminar by the Pontifical Academy of Theology, the pope challenged theologians to craft a “theology of wisdom” that integrates faith and reason to tackle AI’s complexities. He critiqued an “exclusively ethical approach” as insufficient, advocating instead for an anthropological lens that affirms human dignity as “irreconcilable with a digital android.” This call for interdisciplinary dialogue — spanning science, economics, law, and the arts — implicitly extends to media and communications, where AI-driven misinformation poses acute risks.
The 2026 theme also resonates with prior Vatican efforts, such as the 2025 World Day message, which Pope Leo XIV echoed in his early addresses, urging the disarmament of communication from prejudice, resentment, and hatred to promote global peace.
Vatican observers note that these initiatives reflect a strategic pivot under Pope Leo XIV, who has positioned the Church as a moral compass in the digital age. “The challenge is to ensure that humanity remains the guiding agent,” the Monday announcement concludes. “The future of communication must be one where machines serve as tools that connect and facilitate human lives rather than erode the human voice.”
As AI technologies advance, the pontiff’s message serves as a timely reminder for journalists, educators, and policymakers to prioritize human-centric approaches, ensuring that innovation enhances rather than undermines societal bonds.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from the Vatican
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