The Builders AI Forum 2025, held on November 6 and 7 at the Pontifical Gregorian University, brought together international experts in technology, ethics, and pastoral care to reflect on the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in serving the Church's mission. In his message, Pope Leo XIV emphasized that technological innovation, far from being an end in itself, must be oriented toward the dignity of the human person and the common good. Furthermore, he recalled that every human creation is a participation in God's creative work and, therefore, possesses an ethical and spiritual dimension.
Below we provide the message from the Holy Father to the participants in the Builders AI Forum 2025:
He sent a cordial greeting to all participants in the Builders AI Forum 2025, which is taking place at the Pontifical Gregorian University. I express my gratitude to the organizers and to all those who, through research, entrepreneurial initiative, and pastoral vision, seek to ensure that emerging technologies remain oriented toward the dignity of the human person and the common good.
The objective of this Forum—to foster “a new interdisciplinary community of practice dedicated to supporting the development of artificial intelligence products that serve the Church's mission”—reflects an important issue of our time: it is not only about what AI can do, but about who we are becoming through the technologies we build.
In this sense, I wish to point out that artificial intelligence, like every human invention, springs from the creative capacity that God has entrusted to us (cf. Antiqua et Nova, 37). This means that technological innovation can be a form of participation in the divine act of creation. Therefore, it carries an ethical and spiritual weight, since every design decision expresses a vision of the human being. The Church therefore calls on all artificial intelligence builders to cultivate moral discernment as a fundamental part of their work: to develop systems that reflect justice, solidarity, and a genuine reverence for life.
The reflections you are carrying out in these days show that this task cannot be confined to research laboratories or investment portfolios. It must be a deeply ecclesial endeavor. Whether it involves designing algorithms for Catholic education, tools for compassionate healthcare, or creative platforms that convey the Christian story with truth and beauty, each participant contributes to a common mission: putting technology at the service of evangelization and the integral development of every person.
This interdisciplinary collaboration embodies the “dialogue between faith and reason” (cf. Antiqua et Nova, 83), renewed in the digital age, and affirms that intelligence—whether artificial or human—finds its full meaning in love, freedom, and relationship with God.
With these sentiments, I entrust the work of this Forum to the loving intercession of Mary, Seat of Wisdom. May your collaboration bear fruit in an artificial intelligence that reflects the Creator's design: intelligent, relational, and guided by love. May the Lord bless your efforts and transform them into a sign of hope for the entire human family.
LEO PP. XIV
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