In Star Trek‘s original series, Captain Kirk (William Shatner) unmasked world-controlling computers, confronting alien societies held captive by worshiping AI. Decades later, The Next Generation introduced Data (Brent Spiner), the sentient android struggling with emotions and relationships. These stories asked profound questions: What does it mean to be human? Can AI be sentient, emotional, relational? Will AI overlook our ethical concerns? Today, these aren’t just science fiction; they are pastoral realities.
A New Gutenberg Moment
Pope Francis repeatedly declared, “We are not living an era of change but a change of era.” Like the printing press that launched the Reformation and the internet that transformed global communication, artificial intelligence presents unprecedented opportunities and challenges for evangelization.
Opportunities for Gospel Proclamation
AI is already revolutionizing ministry in practical ways. Tools like ChatGPT and Claude can help priests draft homilies, answer catechetical questions, and offer 24/7 spiritual guidance. Magisterium AI searches official Church documents to ensure doctrinal accuracy. Hallow uses AI to personalize prayer experiences, while Bible.AI offers intelligent Bible study help. Catechism GPT makes Catholic teaching accessible in conversational language.
AI enables Scripture translation into previously unreachable languages, making theological resources available to remote populations. Chatbots extend pastoral care beyond parish boundaries. AI-powered tools can tutor in theology, Church history, and canon law. Customized devotionals and Bible studies can adapt to individual spiritual journeys.
Concerns Requiring Discernment
AI responses are based on the data that is input into databases. AI models may present a mix of secular and religious perspectives unless specifically focused. The Maryland Bishops’ pastoral letter, The Face of Christ in a Digital Age, names critical risks: theological misinformation, over-dependence on technology versus authentic relationships, data privacy violations, algorithmic bias reinforcing injustice, worker displacement, manipulation of truth, and lethal autonomous weapons development.
The Vatican’s Antiqua et Nova emphasizes that we must place the human person—made in God’s image—at the center of technological transformation. AI can personalize spiritual content, but it cannot replace the incarnational ministry of presence, the sacraments, or the authentic human relationships that embody Christ’s love.
In addition, the Center for Strategic Corporate Foresight and Sustainability in Switzerland conducted a study that found a negative correlation between frequent AI-tool usage and critical thinking skills. We need to be aware that handing over cognitive tasks to chatbots results in decreased memory, lowers critical thinking, and increases dependency on AI.
Learning from Blessed James Alberione
Blessed James Alberione, whose Pauline communities pioneered media use for evangelization, named technology as a gift for bringing “the whole Christ to the whole person.” His approach is still vital today: engage culture while supporting focus on human integrity and Gospel values—exactly what AI evangelization requires: to engage in digital means to cultivate the integrity of the human person made in the image of God. Dialoging with the culture means looking for the seeds of faith and encouraging them to grow through prayer, ethical engagement, digital literacy, and educational publishing that reflects gospel values.
Father Domenico Soliman, Superior General of the Society of Saint Paul, echoes Pope Francis when he says that technology isn’t merely an instrument—it shapes culture itself. We must first be transformed by listening to God’s Word, then prophetically proclaim the Gospel’s joy. In prayer before the Eucharist, the Word made flesh, we discern how to apply AI ethically and evangelically.
Our Call Forward
The Maryland Bishops challenge us: “Will we allow technology to form us in its image—or will we shape it according to the Gospel?” Here are some pointers:
- Use AI with purpose: Turn to AI for help, not for habit or distraction. Value human insights and conversation.
- Keep the Gospel at the center: Let kindness, truth, and compassion guide what you create or ask AI to do.
- Protect human dignity: Engage in digital literacy to avoid spreading falsehoods. Guard against anthropomorphizing chatbots. Teach others that chatbots, though they may seem intelligent, only mimic human insights and speech.
- Keep relationships genuine: Let AI assist you, but don’t let it replace conversation and community. People need to be seen and heard. Don’t allow AI to take over an important role in the parish or office that needs the human person to guide it for pastoral sensitivity and even to guard the dignity of work.
- Stay discerning: Check facts, question biased outputs, and use AI tools responsibly, create accountability for yourself and others.
- Develop Pastoral Responses: AI presents as a way for people to seek meaning online. Offer other opportunities to seek genuine meaning through community and in communication with others.
Throughout Church history, from the printing press to the industrial revolution to the internet, we’ve been called not simply to adapt, but to discern. Today, we’re called not to fear the future, but to shape it with courage and faith, proclaiming Christ in new ways, to new peoples, with new languages.
The question isn’t whether to use AI, but how to use it as a tool, as Pope Leo XIV says, “to place technology at the service of evangelization and the integral development of every person.” Humans, not algorithms, need to decide theological meaning, check doctrinal interpretation, and offer spiritual guidance. AI outputs are to be judged against Scripture, Tradition, and pastoral practice – not the other way around.
May we, like Blessed James Alberione, recognize in these emerging technologies a renewed opportunity to bring the whole Christ to the whole person. And as we continually open ourselves to Christ’s transforming work, may we use these tools with wisdom, humility, and courage—so that in this change of era we can become Christ for others and guide our world toward truth, compassion, and hope.
Cover Image by Yandry Fernandez Perdomo on Cathopic.