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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Leo XIV called for an end to all antisemitism, prejudice, oppression and persecution worldwide.

"I renew my appeal to the community of nations always to remain vigilant so that the horror of genocide never again befall any people and that a society based on mutual respect and the common good be built," he said Jan. 28.

The pope made his remarks during his greeting to Italian-speaking visitors after leading his general audience talk in the Paul VI Audience Hall.

The pope recalled the previous day's commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is marked Jan. 27 each year, the anniversary of the day in 1945 when Soviet troops liberated the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp complex. The camp was the largest of the Nazi work and death camps; an estimated 1.1 million of the more than 6 million victims of the Holocaust died there. 

"On this annual occasion of painful remembrance, I ask Almighty God for the gift of a world without any more antisemitism, prejudice, oppression or persecution of any human being," Pope Leo said. 

The pope also commemorated Holocaust Remembrance Day with a post on X Jan. 27, recalling "that the Church remains faithful to the unwavering position of the Declaration #NostraAetate against every form of antisemitism. The Church rejects any discrimination or harassment based on ethnicity, language, nationality or religion."

Later the same day, the pope underlined the importance of praying for peace when speaking to reporters as he was leaving the papal villa in Castel Gandolfo outside of Rome.

When asked about the situation in the Middle East, specifically the arrival of the U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, which is equipped with guided-missile destroyers, Pope Leo said, "I will just say that we must pray very much for peace."

Though regular, everyday people may seem "small" or insignificant, he said, "we can raise our voices and always seek dialogue rather than violence to resolve problems, especially on this day when we commemorate the Shoah."

"Let us fight against all forms of antisemitism," he said.

WASHINGTON – “Your faith matters. Your prayers matter. Your acts of love and works of justice matter,” said Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “The current climate of fear and polarization, which thrives when human dignity is disregarded, does not meet the standard set by Christ in the Gospel,” he continued, and as a step toward healing, invited bishops and priests across the United States to offer a Holy Hour for Peace.

Archbishop Coakley’s full reflection and invitation follow:

Many people today feel powerless in the face of violence, injustice, and social unrest. To those who feel this way, I wish to say clearly: your faithfulness matters. Your prayers matter. Your acts of love and works of justice matter. 

I am deeply grateful for the countless ways Catholics and all people of good will continue to serve one another and work for peace and justice. Whether feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, caring for the sick, accompanying the lonely, visiting the imprisoned, or striving daily to love their neighbors, no work of mercy or act of justice is ever wasted in the eyes of God. While proper laws must be respected, works of mercy, peacefully assembling, and caring for those in your community are signs of hope, and they build peace more surely than anger or despair ever could. Christ reminds us that even ‘a single cup of cold water’ given in his name will not go unrewarded (cf. Mt 10:42).

The recent killing of two people by immigration enforcement officers in Minneapolis and that of a detained man in Texas, are just a few of the tragic examples of the violence that represent failures in our society to respect the dignity of every human life. We mourn this loss of life and deplore the indifference and injustice it represents. The current climate of fear and polarization, which thrives when human dignity is disregarded, does not meet the standard set by Christ in the Gospel.

As a step toward healing, I invite my brother bishops and priests across the United States to offer a Holy Hour for Peace in the days ahead. Let us pray for reconciliation where there is division, for justice where there are violations of fundamental rights, and for consolation for all who feel overwhelmed by fear or loss. I encourage Catholics everywhere to participate, whether in parishes, chapels, or before the Lord present in the quiet of their hearts for healing in our nation and communities. 

May this Holy Hour be a moment of renewal for our hearts and for our nation. Entrusting our fears and hopes to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, let us ask the Lord to make us instruments of his peace and witnesses to the inherent dignity of every person.

Let us pray together, confident that God hears the cry of his people and remains close to all who seek him. 

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The Universal Church celebrates the Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274). He is considered the Dominican Order's greatest glory. He taught philosophy and theology with such genius that he is considered one of the leading Christian thinkers. His innocence, on a par with his genius, earned for him the title of "Angelic Doctor."

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WASHINGTON – “Consecrated men and women are a witness to the hope of a life lived in Christ that is awaited to be fully received in Heaven,” said Archbishop-designate Ronald A. Hicks, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations. The committee assists bishops in promoting, supporting, and educating about the Church’s pastoral needs and concerns for the priesthood, diaconate, and consecrated life, and addresses issues concerning the life and ministry of bishops. Instituted by Saint John Paul II in 1997, the Catholic Church observes the World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life on February 2 each year. Dioceses, parishes, and schools take the opportunity to recognize, celebrate, and pray for those in consecrated life and those discerning this state of life. 

“By responding to the vocational call such as consecrated virginity, religious life, and members of secular institutes and societies of Apostolic life, consecrated men and women reveal God’s invitation to love him with one’s whole life even now while on Earth as it will be in Heaven. Living out this love can start before one enters into consecrated life through active participation in the Mass, such as being an altar server or lector, or parish ministry, and teaching the faith to God’s people,” said Archbishop-designate Hicks.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations, in preparation for this celebration, commissions a study each year on newly professed men and women religious through the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University. The full CARA report and profiles of the Profession Class of 2025 may be found here.   

Resources on the World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life are available on the USCCB’s website World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Humanity must not allow technology, especially AI, to obscure, exploit or suppress human voices, needs, knowledge, talents, creativity and critical thinking abilities, Pope Leo XIV said.

Algorithms designed to maximize engagement on social media can lock people into "bubbles" of easy consensus and rage, weakening people's ability to listen and think critically, and increasing polarization, the pope wrote in his message for the World Day of Communications.

"Added to this is a naively uncritical reliance on artificial intelligence as an omniscient 'friend,' a dispenser of all information, an archive of all memory, an 'oracle' of all advice," which can also further erode the ability to understand what things really mean and to think analytically and creatively, he wrote.

The pope's message was released Jan. 24, the feast of St. Francis de Sales, patron saint of journalists. The Vatican and most dioceses will celebrate the World Day of Communications May 17, the Sunday before Pentecost. 

The theme for the church's 60th celebration of World Day of Communications is "Preserving human voices and faces," which the Dicastery for Communication announced Sept. 29.

The theme underlines the pope's focus on the need to respect the human person and each person's God-given uniqueness and diversity.

The challenge, he wrote, "is not technological, but anthropological. Protecting faces and voices ultimately means protecting ourselves."

Humanity can embrace the opportunities offered by digital technology and artificial intelligence "with courage, determination and discernment," he wrote, without hiding or ignoring the critical issues, problems and risks they pose.

The main concern is not what "machines" or technology can or will be able to do, Pope Leo wrote, "but what we can and will be able to do, growing in humanity and knowledge, with the wise use of such powerful tools at our service."

The heart of the problem, he wrote, is the human temptation to passively accept the fruits of knowledge without being an integral part of the technological process, without doing the needed research and without being held accountable and responsible regarding their use. 

"Giving up the creative process and surrendering our mental capacities and imagination to machines means burying the talents we have received to grow as people in relation to God and others," he wrote. "It means hiding our face and silencing our voice."

Without proper safeguards, he wrote, "digital technology risks radically altering some of the fundamental pillars of human civilization" since current technology is able to simulate "human voices and faces, wisdom and knowledge, awareness and responsibility, empathy and friendship."

"There has long been ample evidence that algorithms designed to maximize engagement on social media -- which is profitable for platforms -- reward knee-jerk emotions and penalize more time-consuming human expressions such as the effort to understand and reflect," the pope wrote.

"By closing groups of people into bubbles of easy consensus and easy indignation, these algorithms weaken the ability to listen and think critically and increase social polarization," he wrote, adding his warning about any naive and uncritical reliance on AI for information, remembering the past, "friendship" and advice.

"Although AI can provide support and assistance in managing communication tasks, shirking the effort to think for ourselves and settling for an artificial statistical compilation risks eroding our cognitive, emotional and communication skills in the long run," he wrote.

Pope Leo flagged the danger of letting AI systems take control of producing text, music and video, and allowing "masterpieces of human genius in the fields of music, art and literature" to become "mere training grounds for machines."

"Much of the human creative industry is thus at risk of being dismantled and replaced with the label 'Powered by AI,' transforming people into mere passive consumers of unthought thoughts, anonymous products, without authorship, without love," he wrote.

Pope Leo also highlighted the increased presence of "bots" and "virtual influencers" on people's social media feeds, and their ability to influence public debate and people's choices. 

Another danger, he added, was "anthropomorphizing" Large Language Models, which can imitate human emotions and appear "affectionate," potentially deceiving or influencing vulnerable people and exploiting the human need for relationships.

If people replace real human relationships with AI-trained systems, where "everything is made in our image and likeness," he wrote, people can build a "world of mirrors" and be robbed of the opportunity "to encounter others, who are always different from us, and with whom we can and must learn to engage."

AI and its propensity to "hallucinate" as well as its ability to fabricate "reality" make it increasingly difficult to distinguish fact and fiction, thus posing a great risk to journalism, he wrote.

"A failure to verify sources, together with the crisis in on-the-ground journalism, which involves the continuous gathering and verification of information wherever events occur, can create even more fertile ground for disinformation, causing a growing sense of mistrust, confusion and insecurity," the pope wrote.

And finally, he warned about the danger of having a "handful of companies" be in control of so much data and be able to "subtly influence behavior and even rewrite human history -- including the history of the Church -- often without us even realizing it."

What needs to be done, he wrote, is "not stop digital innovation, but to guide it, to be aware of its ambivalent nature" and to "raise our voices in defense of human beings, so that these tools can truly be integrated as our allies."

This alliance must be based on responsibility, cooperation and education, he wrote,

"Media and communication companies cannot allow algorithms designed to win the battle for a few extra seconds of attention at any cost to prevail over their professional values, which are aimed at seeking the truth," he wrote. "Public trust is earned through accuracy and transparency, not by chasing after any kind of engagement." 

"Content generated or manipulated by AI must be clearly labeled and distinguished from content created by humans," the pope wrote. Authorship, ownership and copyright must be protected.

"Information is a public good. A constructive and meaningful public service is not based on opacity, but on transparency of sources, inclusion of stakeholders and high standards of quality," he said in his message.

The pope called for increased media, information and AI literacy on all levels. "As Catholics, we can and must make our contribution so that people -- especially young people -- acquire critical thinking skills and grow in freedom of spirit."

More should be done, too, he added, in protecting people's face, image and voice from being used in "the creation of harmful content and behaviors such as digital fraud, cyberbullying and deepfakes that violate people's privacy and intimacy without their consent."

"We need faces and voices to represent people again," he wrote. "We need to cherish the gift of communication as the deepest truth of humanity, to which all technological innovation should be oriented."