Pope Leo: In the AI age, the Church needs artists

October 03, 2026

Pope Leo XIV told a gathering of artists and curators that “the Church looks upon you with esteem, gratitude and hope; that she needs you, and that she wishes to walk alongside you, so that together we may safeguard the grandeur of humanity entrusted to us.”

The Pontiff made his remarks during an October 2 audience with artists and curators who were taking part in “The Art of Possibility: Weaving Together,” a meeting organized by the Dicastery for Culture and Education.

Distinguishing art from the answers offered by search engines, Pope Leo said that art “does not proceed by indexing but by inquiry. Indeed, its inquiry is a focused attention that is not satisfied with the mere sum of facts, for it never ceases to dig deeper, seeking the thread that unites them. Your art, when it resists homogenization, when it draws our gaze, when it compels us to pause before that which cannot be consumed, is a form of cultural and spiritual regeneration.”

“For my part, I also say to you today: the Church needs you,” the Pope added. “This is especially true in this age of artificial intelligence, in which we urgently need to distinguish human art from what is produced by machines. There is an ontological difference—even before an aesthetic one—between art and what a machine can generate through statistical calculation based on millions of images created by others.”

 

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Further information:

• To the Artists participating in the Meeting promoted by the Dicastery for Culture and Education (Dicastery for Communication - Vatican Media, 10/2/26)
• Audience with artists and curators of the Meeting “The Art of Possibility: Weaving Together, promoted by the Dicastery for Culture and Education (Holy See Press Office, 10/2/26)
• Pope Leo: the Church needs artists (Vatican News, 10/2/26)