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Pope Leo XIV has urged young Catholics in the US not to allow artificial intelligence to take over their education, with his comments coming during an unprecedented livestream from the Vatican to a vast gathering of youth in Indianapolis.
Addressing about 15,000 teenagers on Friday, 21 November, the US-born Pope described AI as “becoming one of the defining features of our time”, while also telling them plainly: “Using AI responsibly means using it in ways that help you grow.”
He added: “Don’t ask it to do your homework for you.”
The event marked the first time a pontiff has taken part in the National Catholic Youth Conference by digital link, with 16,000 participants filling Lucas Oil Stadium to watch the Pope appear on giant screens.
The atmosphere, according to those present, shifted from anticipation to uproarious excitement when Pope Leo offered a wave before beginning a 40-minute exchange with selected young people.
One of the participants, Elise Wing, told the Catholic News Agency (CNA) afterwards that “walking up on that stage felt like history”, her comment capturing the mood of an audience seemingly conscious of witnessing an unusual moment in Church life.
The Pope spoke freely on the promise and risks of technology, reminding his listeners that AI “can process information quickly, but it cannot replace human intelligence”.
He encouraged those gathered to follow the example of St Carlo Acutis by being “intentional with your screen time” and ensuring that “technology serves your life and not the other way around”.
While acknowledging the usefulness of AI, the Pope stressed that only the young themselves – and not through phones, filters or algorithms – could make the choices that lead to real maturity.
He also alluded to the political tensions surrounding faith in the United States, warning the teenagers, “Please be careful not to use political categories to speak about faith, to speak about the Church. The Church doesn’t belong to any political party… she helps form your conscience so you can think and act with wisdom and love.”
The encounter also revealed a light-hearted detail about the Pope’s daily routine when he admitted he uses “a different word for Wordle every day” – referring to the web-based word game puzzle in which you have six attempts to guess a five-letter word – prompting laughter from the crowd before he returned to more serious themes of conscience, friendship and prayer.
For Indiana’s Catholic leaders, the livestream was a milestone in itself. Archbishop Charles Thompson said the gathering had become a focal point for Catholic youth nationwide, with most of the country able to reach Indianapolis within a day’s travel.
The livestream continues a pattern of remote papal engagement that began with St John Paul II in 1985, when he permitted the Urbi et Orbi blessing to be bestowed not just on those present in St. Peter's Square, by extending the plenary indulgence to individuals who "piously follow" the blessing on television.
Today, the papacy finds itself in a fully digital age, in which the lack of proximity for a personal exchange is even more pronounced, as it both seeks to navigate that paradigm itself, while offering advice to Catholics around the world on how to navigate it too.
Photo: Pope Leo waves by digital link to the crowds gathered for the National Catholic Youth Conference, Indianapolis, USA, 21 November 2025 (screenshot from video)
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