Pope Leo XIV criticized the potential negative consequences of growing AI use in a message this week — an emerging through line of his papacy.

The message, released by the Vatican this week, was directed to participants of an annual conference on artificial intelligence and its ethics in Rome. Despite noting AI’s potential for good, the pope also said there is a possibility for “misuse for selfish gain” and as a way to “foment conflict and aggression.”

“All of us, I am sure, are concerned for children and young people, and the possible consequences of the use of AI on their intellectual and neurological development. Our youth must be helped, and not hindered, in their journey towards maturity and true responsibility,” the first American pontiff said.

The pope’s message on AI is part of a growing theme of his pontificate.

In his first address to cardinals one month ago, he warned of the dangers of AI to “human dignity,” POLITICO reported earlier this month.

Even his choice of papal name — after Pope Leo XIII, who championed workers rights during the industrial revolution — was “not a casual reference,” a Vatican spokesperson said shortly after the conclave ended.

Leo’s stance on AI is similar to that of his predecessor, Pope Francis, who warned in 2024 that our societies were experiencing a loss “of the sense of what is human.”

“Access to data — however extensive — must not be confused with intelligence, which necessarily ‘involves the person’s openness to the ultimate questions of life and reflects an orientation toward the True and the Good,’” Leo said in his message.