Artificial intelligence and the Church

 As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to revolutionize every sector of modern society, from healthcare and education to finance and entertainment, questions around its ethical implications and potential effects on humanity are gaining more attention. For the Catholic Church, which has long been at the forefront of social and moral teachings, AI presents both an opportunity and a challenge. The Church's response to AI reflects its broader commitment to human dignity, the common good, and a moral framework that steers technological progress toward the benefit of all. 

Confession: That first paragraph is the opening of an article written by ChatGPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) with the prompt “write me an article about the Catholic Church and AI.” 

ChatGPT is one of several AI language models now available online, designed to respond in human-like text to the prompts it receives. It can answer questions, translate languages, hold conversations, and even write poetry. The model’s information comes from the data it was trained on, which includes countless books, websites, research, and data. It doesn’t search the internet for answers. Rather, it relies on the training it was given. 

Akin to ChatGPT is Magisterium AI, a Catholic AI language model, whose training includes over 23,200 documents of the Catholic Church, including the Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Code of Canon Law, papal encyclicals, the works of the Church Fathers such as St. Augustine, and important biblical commentaries. Unlike ChatGPT, it provides sources to each of its answers. It was also far less generous when I asked it to write an article for me and instead provided a few opening sentences and prompts for further questions to consider. A similar Catholic AI resource is CatéGPT, which is trained on many of the same Church documents, while providing more casual, discussion-like answers more accessible to the general public. 

Language models are just one form of AI technology. AI is making huge leaps in what’s possible in healthcare, military, entertainment, and beyond. Some of the biggest AI systems are said to be close to achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI), meaning an artificial intelligence that can learn new skills, adapt to new situations, and apply knowledge about the world including social norms and relationships just as well as humans. 

So the question becomes: as these technologies continue to develop, how do we, as Catholics, respond?  

On Jan. 28, the Vatican published Antiqua et nova (AEN), Latin for “old and new,” a “note on the relationship between artificial intelligence and human intelligence.” The document addresses the “anthropological and ethical challenges raised by AI—issues that are particularly significant, as one of the goals of this technology is to imitate the human intelligence that designed it.” 

The document begins by distinguishing the difference between AI and human intelligence. In short, AI features allow it to “perform tasks, but not the ability to think.” 

AIs operate by recognizing patterns in their training and applying them to new situations. While an AI might mimic human emotions, it does not actually experience them. It may be able to give a definition of forgiveness and love, but it has no concept of what it means to forgive or to love and be loved. 

When we say that a human person is a rational being, this does not limit our identity as beings that think. “Rather the term ‘rational’ encompasses all the capacities of the human person, including those related to knowing and understanding, as well as those of willing, loving, choosing, and desiring; it also includes all corporeal functions closely related to these abilities” (AEN 15). 

An AI does not have a body, at least, not a body integrated with a soul. Human persons are both spirit and matter, “not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature” (CCC 365). The soul is not one part and the body another. “The entire human person is simultaneously both material and spiritual” (AEN 16).  

By the mystery of the Incarnation, God himself took on flesh, and thereby “raised it up to a sublime dignity” (ibed.). Since we are made in the image and likeness of God, we also possess this same dignity. While we are rooted in our bodies here on earth, “the human person transcends the material world through the soul, which is ‘almost on the horizon of eternity and time.’ The intellect’s capacity for transcendence and the self-possessed freedom of the will belong to the soul, by which the human person ‘shares in the light of the divine mind’” (AEN 17).  

Human intelligence is ultimately God’s gift to us, that we might use it to seek him always. Human intelligence is about understanding and actively engaging with reality both material and spiritual, not about completing tasks when prompted, as is the case with AI. “AI lacks the richness of corporeality, relationality, and the openness of the human heart to truth and goodness, its capacities—though seemingly limitless—are incomparable with the human ability to grasp reality. So much can be learned from an illness, an embrace or reconciliation, and even a simple sunset” (AEN 33). 

Reflecting on the difference between human and artificial intelligence, Pope Francis observes, “the very use of the word ‘intelligence’ in connection with AI can prove misleading and risks overlooking what is most precious in the human person. In light of this, AI should not be seen as an artificial form of human intelligence but as a product of it.” 

Antiqua et nova also outlines both the benefits and dangers of this technology. Given AI’s ability to analyze vast amounts of data and solve complex problems, it’s possible for it to introduce new innovations “in agriculture, education, and culture, an improved level of life for entire nations and peoples” (AEN 51). However, as we’ve seen in all previously emerging technologies, such as social media, the internet, television, and radio, any new tool can be used for both good and evil. 

The document warns about the concentration of power over AI in the hands of a few powerful companies as well as what Pope Francis calls the “technocratic paradigm,” which perceives that the world’s problems can be solved through technological means alone. While AI has the potential to serve humanity and contribute to the common good, it “remains a creation of human hands, bearing ‘the imprint of human art and ingenuity’” (AEN 106). 

In the past few months, we’ve seen a few instances where the use of AI in Catholic settings has had mixed results. In November 2024, St. Peter’s Chapel in Lucerne, Switzerland caused a stir when it installed a project to explore the use of virtual characters based on AI. The AI presented a Jesus-like avatar to verbally respond to questions about the Bible. The project was installed in a confessional booth, giving the impression that the AI might be “hearing confessions,” though notes on the parish website indicated the project was only ever meant for conversations. 

On a similar note, Catholic Answers, an online apologetics apostolate, received criticism for its avatar “Father Justin” which was prompted by several users to hear their confession. Catholic Answers quickly apologized for the confusion and replaced the avatar with a lay character “Justin.” 

Confession, or the sacrament of penance, can only be performed by a priest or bishop and never in a virtual setting. These experiments in AI show that when a machine pretends to be human, it can create, at best, confusing results. Moving forward, keeping a clear distinction between what is human and what is not, especially as this technology advances and the distinction becomes more difficult to perceive, will be of greater importance.     

Antiqua et nova concludes by inviting us to consider “whether in the context of this [technological] progress, man, as man, is becoming truly better, that is to say, more mature spiritually, more aware of the dignity of his humanity, more responsible, more open to others, especially the neediest and the weakest, and readier to give and to aid all” (AEN 109). 

“In a world marked by AI, we need the grace of the Holy Spirit who enables us to look at things with God’s eyes, to see connections, situations, events and to uncover their real meaning” (AEN 115). 

Throughout history, the Catholic Church has engaged with advancements in technology, offering moral and ethical guidance along the way. From Archbishop Fulton Sheen and Mother Angelica on radio and TV, to Bishop Barron and countless others on the internet today, we’ve seen that new technology can be used for great good in the work of spreading the message of the gospel.