Pope Leo XIV spoke to university students and professors at the Catholic University of Central Africa on April 17
YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon — Pope Leo XIV has warned that the rise of artificial intelligence threatens to change humanity’s relationship with truth, calling on Catholic universities to help form leaders capable of navigating an increasingly digital world with integrity and discernment.
Speaking to students and professors at the Catholic University of Central Africa in Yaoundé, Cameroon, on April 17, the pope delivered a long address that touched on AI, corruption, the purpose of Catholic higher education and the Church’s mission to unite faith with reason.
“Like every great historical transformation, this too calls not only for technical competence, but also for a humanistic formation capable of making visible the logic behind economics, embedded biases and forms of power that shape our perception of reality,” the pope told the students and professors.
Pope Leo cautioned that some digital environments are “structured to persuade” and carry the risk of replacing genuine human encounter.
“When simulation becomes the norm, it weakens the human capacity for discernment. As a result, our social bonds close in upon themselves, forming self-referential circuits that no longer expose us to reality,” the pope said.
“We thus come to live within bubbles, impermeable to one another,” he said. “Feeling threatened by anyone who is different, we grow unaccustomed to encounter and dialogue. In this way, polarization, conflict, fear and violence spread.”
He added: “What is at stake is not merely the risk of error, but a transformation in our very relationship with truth.”
The pope directly addressed the students, drawing a pointed contrast between AI and incarnated reality. “Dear friends, you, however, are real persons!” he said. “Creation itself has a body, a breath, a life to be listened to and safeguarded.”
Pope Leo grounded his remarks in the long tradition of Catholic intellectual life, quoting both St. John Henry Newman’s “The Idea of a Catholic University” and St. John Paul II’s 1990 apostolic constitution “Ex Corde Ecclesiae,” which remains the foundational Church document on Catholic higher education.
The Catholic university, he said, is “‘born from the heart of the Church’ and shares in her mission to proclaim the truth that sets us free,” echoing John Paul II’s text. He emphasized that faith and reason are not opposed, but “support one another” in the pursuit of truth “in all its dimensions.”
“At a time when many in the world seem to be losing their spiritual and ethical points of reference, finding themselves imprisoned in individualism, superficiality and hypocrisy, the university stands out as a privileged place of friendship, cooperation and, at the same time, of interiority and reflection,” Pope Leo emphasized.
The pope urged Catholic universities to take seriously their “responsibility of the highest order” to shape “minds capable of discernment and hearts ready for love and service.”
Catholic institutions, he said, must prepare “future leaders, public officials, professionals and other actors in society to carry out with integrity the responsibilities entrusted to them” and to situate their work “within an ethical framework at the service of the common good.”
Founded in 1989 by the Association of Episcopal Conferences of Central Africa, the Catholic University of Central Africa has about 5,000 students across multiple campuses, according to students who attended the event. Its students hail from many different African countries, including Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Congo and the Republic of Congo.
