Pope Leo XIV has called on students to resist the lure of fleeting trends and use technology responsibly, urging them to “not let technology use you.” Speaking to participants of the Jubilee of the World of Education in the Paul VI Audience Hall, the pontiff described Artificial Intelligence as “one of the rerum novarum—the new things—of our time,” but reminded young people that true intelligence goes beyond the digital sphere.
Pope Leo encouraged students to cultivate emotional, spiritual, social, and ecological intelligence alongside technological knowledge. He urged them to humanize the digital environment, transforming it into “a space of fraternity and creativity, not a cage or an addiction.”
“Instead of being tourists on the web,” he said, “be prophets in the digital world.”
Referencing Saint Carlo Acutis, canonized on September 7, the Holy Father highlighted the young saint’s use of the internet as a tool for evangelization. “He did not become a slave to the internet but used it skillfully for good,” the Pope noted. Acutis, who created a website on Eucharistic miracles, “combined his faith with his passion for computers,” showing that the digital world can serve education and evangelization when it opens hearts to God and others.
Pope Leo urged the youth to seek lasting values rather than superficial pleasures. “Do not settle for appearances or fads; a life stifled by fleeting pleasures will never satisfy,” he cautioned.
Concluding his address, the Pope drew attention to the Global Compact on Education themed ‘Education for Peace.’ He emphasized the importance of disarming hearts and rejecting violence in all its forms.
“It is not enough to silence weapons,” he said. “We must disarm hearts. A disarmed education builds equality and recognizes the dignity of every young person, without dividing between those who can afford education and those who cannot.”
Finally, Pope Leo encouraged the students to be peacemakers in their daily lives at home, in school, in sports, and among friends reaching out to those from different cultures with openness and compassion.
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