27 February 2026

Pope Leo took his name in honour of Pope Leo XIII. He famously wrote the encyclical ‘Rerum Novarum’, which is the foundation of contemporary Catholic social teaching,  addressing the relationship between management and worker, government and citizen etc.

Consequently, the Pope has been interested not in the changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution but the technological revolution and,  in particular, AI or Artificial Intelligence. On Ash Wednesday, he addressed priests from the Diocese of Rome about the temptation to prepare homilies using AI. He raised four  important issues.

Firstly, we should be exercising our own brain.  ‘Like all the muscles in the body, if we do not use them, if we do not move them, they die.’ he said. ‘The brain needs to be used, so our intelligence must also be exercised a little so as not to lose this capacity.’

Secondly, the preacher is called to share faith. This is behind every sermon – a strengthening of people’s faith. It is obvious that a machine cannot share faith. It belongs to the mind, the heart and the spirit and this cannot be found in a machine only in a human being.

Thirdly, the sermon should be rooted in the local context. The sermon takes off when connections are made between the Biblical material, the faith of the people and what is happening within the congregation, the community and, indeed, the nation and wider world. No machine can be so creative.

Fourthly, preaching  the Word should be authentic. It should be born out of the preacher’s relationship with Christ. ‘With a life authentically rooted in the Lord, one can offer something different.’ said the Pope. Likes and followers on the internet is not a measure of  the offering we are called to make of ourselves in  ministry!

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