Lent is barely underway, but a definitive theme has emerged regarding the presence of artificial intelligence in sanctified spaces, according to Catholic news source Crux.
Lent, the 40-day period between Ash Wednesday on Feb. 18 and Holy Thursday on April 2, is an important portion of the Catholic Church's liturgical year, a time for prayer, almsgiving, and reflection.
Pope Leo XIV convened a closed-door meeting with the Diocese of Rome to discuss a litany of ecclesiastical matters at the beginning of Lent, during which he entreated priests to "resist the temptation" to draft homilies using AI chatbots like ChatGPT.
According to Crux, the pope isn't the only high-ranking clergyman concerned about AI's encroachment into pastoral relationships. Bishop Erik Varden, handpicked by Pope Leo to lead the Holy See's official 2026 Lenten retreat, raised similar concerns.
As the Catholic Church grapples with what, if any, role AI should play in its ministry, the general public is also contending with its disruptive effects. AI adoption has wreaked havoc in the job market, at all levels of education, and particularly for people living near data centers.
Communities with data centers were among the first to raise objections to the real-world impacts of AI, reporting that their noise and air pollution had driven locals to distraction. Those complaints deepened when data center demand spiked electric bills nationwide.
In February, energy experts estimated that nearly one in five American households were behind on energy bills and at risk of shut-offs, not long after the Department of Energy flatly admitted that the public grid wasn't up to the task of supporting AI data center demand.
As for AI and spirituality, reports of chatbot users being seduced into a spiritual awakening induced by large language models, often to the detriment of their real-life relationships, escalated throughout 2025.
Varden warned Vatican officials of a "prophetic challenge" posed by "digital, artificial" spiritual interactions and people seeking a sincere connection with their faith and church.
According to Varden, per Crux, "young people yearn to meet teachers who are worthy of trust, who can impart not only skills but wisdom" to a demographic vulnerable to impersonal, machine-generated, authoritative-sounding chatbot interactions.
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Save $1,000 this year 💸 Varden specifically cited "angelic encounters," a rare but recognized aspect of the Catholic faith — and something a slick chatbot might replicate convincingly. Chatbots have become increasingly "sycophantic," something the bishop appeared to reference.
"Angelic interventions are not always reassuring. The angels are not there to humor us in our caprices. In a popular prayer … we ask our guardian angel to 'enlighten, keep, govern, and guide' us. These are hefty verbs. An angel is a guardian of holiness," he said, per Crux.
"An angelic encounter is always personal. It cannot be replaced by a download or a chatbot," Varden observed.
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