Pope Leo XIV urges youth to humanize AI and digital world, invoking St. Carlo Acutis at Vatican education jubilee. Calls for peace through disarmed hearts.
Newsroom (30/10/2025, Gaudium Press ) Pope Leo XIV cautioned young people against allowing technology to dominate their lives, describing artificial intelligence as “one of the rerum novarum, or ‘new things,’ of our time,” while addressing participants in the Jubilee of the World of Education on Oct. 30.
Speaking in the Paul VI Audience Hall, the pontiff emphasized that intelligence in virtual realms is insufficient without broader human qualities.
“We must also treat one another humanely, nurturing emotional, spiritual, social and ecological intelligence,” Leo said. “Therefore, I say to you: Learn to humanize the digital, building it as a space of fraternity and creativity — not a cage where you lock yourselves in, not an addiction or an escape. Instead of being tourists on the web, be prophets in the digital world.”
The pope invoked the example of Saint Carlo Acutis, whom he canonized on Sept. 7. Acutis, who died in 2006 at age 15, is widely regarded as the “patron saint of the Internet” for his online evangelization efforts.
“He was a young man who did not become a slave to the internet, but rather used it skillfully for good,” Leo said. “Saint Carlo combined his beautiful faith with his passion for computers, creating a website on Eucharistic miracles and thus making the internet a tool for evangelization. His initiative teaches us that the digital world is educational when it does not close us in on ourselves but opens us to others — when it does not place us at the center but orients us toward God and others.”
Urging the students to embrace life fully, the pope warned against superficial pursuits.
“Do not settle for appearances or fads; a life stifled by fleeting pleasures will never satisfy us,” he said.
Leo concluded by highlighting the new Global Compact on Education, themed “Education for Peace,” amid global threats from war and division.
“You can see how much our future is threatened by war and hatred, which divide people,” he said. “Can this future be changed? Certainly! How? With an education for peace that is disarmed and disarming.”
“It is not enough, in fact, to silence weapons: We must disarm hearts, renouncing all violence and vulgarity,” the pope added. “In this way, a disarming and disarmed education creates equality and growth for all, recognizing the equal dignity of every young person, without ever dividing young people between the privileged few who have access to expensive schools and the many who do not have access to education.”
Expressing confidence in the youth, Leo called on them to foster peace in everyday settings.
“With great confidence in you, I invite you to be peacemakers first and foremost where you live — in your families, at school, in sports, and among your friends — reaching out to those who come from other cultures,” he said.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Crux Now
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