HONG KONG (SE): At the Bishops’ Meet 2025, held in Hong Kong from December 10-12, Dr Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication, insisted that any meaningful reflection on Artificial Intelligence [AI] must start from “what we are and where we are in the history of mankind,” RVA News reported.
As a communion of baptised missionary disciples, the Church now faces “a great opportunity and a tremendous responsibility” as AI continues to reshape culture, communication, and human relationships, Ruffini told the gathering on December 10.
Organised by the Office of Social Communications of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC-OSC], the three-day gathering at Saint Francis University in Hong Kong, brought together bishops, priests, theologians, media practitioners, and communication leaders from across Asia to reflect on the theme, “Artificial Intelligence and Pastoral Challenges in Asia.”
The meeting aims to help the Church navigate the rapid evolution of digital technologies while remaining faithful to its mission of evangelisation and service.
Ruffini urged the Church in Asia to approach AI not with fear, but with a clear Christian vision rooted in human dignity, truth, and discernment.
“Intelligence cannot be artificial.”
Ruffini warned against the illusion that AI can replace the human mind or spirit. While acknowledging that AI can assist with reasoning, context, summarising, research, and translation, he stressed that “true wisdom cannot come from machines and algorithms.”
He added that the danger lies in believing that AI can offer omniscience or total knowledge, which risks leading humanity into the same temptation as the original sin, “to be like God.”
He emphasised that intelligence itself “cannot be artificial,” and that what is commonly called AI is actually “calculation” or “a statistical gamble”—powerful but limited, and capable of concealing its errors and the interests of its owners behind a façade of neutrality, RVA News reported.
Human Responsibility
Ruffini underscored that the real risks of AI do not originate from the machines themselves but from “those who own them, those who programme them and those who use them.” All the pitfalls of the digital age, he said, ultimately point back to human choices.
Quoting computer scientist Ken Thompson, Ruffini noted that even experts struggle to trust code they did not entirely create. This, he said, underscores the need for discernment and ethical oversight to ensure that AI becomes “an extraordinary opportunity and not its exact opposite.”
Need for Human Encounter
Ruffini urged the audience to balance speed with reflection, and to preserve the distinction between what is true and false, right and wrong, between chronos and kairos. RVA News reported that he warned that AI-generated texts, images, art, or music risk undermining the intrinsic value of relationships and the human experience, both of which require time.
Artificial intelligence, he said, can isolate individuals and limit their ability to truly encounter the “other.” He emphasised the importance of understanding slowness as a source of depth and meaning, recalling Cardinal Martini’s teaching that divine communication unfolds gradually and historically.
Concerns
Ruffini raised concerns about deepfakes, unverifiable sources, algorithmic filtering, and the lack of transparency in how digital platforms determine what users see. The danger, he said, is that individuals may become prisoners of “filter bubbles” shaped not by truth but by commercial or ideological interests.
He stressed that dominant AI models shift the focus from quality to speed, and from genuine knowledge to attention-grabbing content. This, he warned, threatens both freedom of thought and the integrity of information.
Discernment and Education
Echoing Pope Francis’ message for the World Day of Peace 2024, Ruffini insisted that education—especially media and AI literacy—is essential. He emphasised that critical thinking, discernment, and the ability to evaluate content are key to preventing “the human heart itself” from becoming artificial.
He noted that Pope Leo XIV has repeatedly warned young people not to let the algorithm “write their story”, urging them instead to humanise the digital world, cultivate moral discernment, and avoid becoming dependent on technologies that diminish freedom, RVA News reported.
Remaining Human
Ruffini repeatedly emphasised a central message throughout his address: it is essential to uphold our humanity in a time when technology influences how we think, shape our history, and behave. He was clear that artificial intelligence must never “replace us” or determine the course of human destiny.
Quoting Romano Guardini, Ruffini said the world needs a new attitude—one proportionate to the power of technology, honest about its dangers, and rooted in freedom, conscience, and responsibility.
Ruffini concluded that the Church must repair its networks, cultivate an ecosystem of safe and truthful communication, and provide a Christian interpretation of the digital world. The challenge, he said, is not to reject calculation, but to prevent it from taking the place of prophecy and wisdom, RVA News reported.
True efficiency, Ruffini said, is not about doing more in less time, but about drawing out the deepest human meaning from the time we are given. He called for the Church to be “salt and leaven”—not passive consumers, but active builders of a communication environment that serves humanity and honours human dignity.
