Pope Leo XIV connected authentically with American young people during a nearly hour-long Nov. 21 livestream dialogue with participants in the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis, according to Chicago-area teens who helped plan the encounter.
During the livestreamed conversation, five young people from across the country asked Pope Leo questions about forgiveness, mental health, technology use and artificial intelligence and the future of the church.
The teens who helped plan the questions were recruited through the National Federation of Catholic Youth Ministers, which organizes NCYC. Leaders at the federation asked youth ministers if they had any good candidates to participate in coming up with questions for the dialogue, and possibly to participate in asking questions.
“Our youth minister, John Sobol, nominated all of us, hoping one of us would be selected,” said Claire Vitellaro, 17, a member of GodSEND Youth Ministry, which includes young people from St. Elizabeth Seton Parish in Orland Hills and St. George and St. Stephen, Deacon and Martyr parishes in Tinley Park.
Vitellaro was selected to be part of the initial group of about 40 young people who met on a Zoom call to discuss what questions to ask and the best way to word them. She went on to be selected to be alternate to actually ask a question, in case one of the five selected was unable to participate.
Cameron and Petra Caprio, 18, from St. Benedict Parish, 2215 W. Irving Park Road, also joined the group of 40 who planned the questions.
“We didn’t necessarily refine the wording of the questions or even really come up with a specific question,” Petra Caprio explained. “We were involved in the conversation that stemmed from the topics that we deemed important, and we helped engage in conversation and dialogue from within our own lives that could help spark new ideas or conversation for topics.”
Pope Leo started the conversation by responding to a question and comment posed by Katie Prejean McGrady, the event’s moderator. She mentioned that she had given the pope a pair of socks some time ago and said she wanted to know what he used as an opening word when he played Wordle each day.
“I just want to say I only wear white socks, and I use a different word for Wordle every day, so there’s no set starting word,” the pope said, before turning to the young people’s questions.
Then he responded to questions from five high school students: Mia Smothers from the Archdiocese of Baltimore; Ezequiel Ponce from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles; Christopher Pantelakis from the Archdiocese of Las Vegas; Micah Alcisto from the Diocese of Honolulu; and Elise Wing from the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Iowa.
Pantelakis asked for the pope’s advice on balancing the use of smartphones and social media with “making faith connections outside of technology.”
Pope Leo, using technology to address the students, listed many good things technology does. For example, “it lets us stay connected with people who are far away,” he said, and there are “amazing tools for prayer, for reading the Bible, for learning more about what we believe, and it allows us to share the Gospel with people we may never meet in person.”
“But even with all that, technology can never replace real, in-person relationships; simple things (like) a hug, a handshake, a smile — all those things are essential to being human and to have those things in a real way, not through a screen,” is important.
Alcisto asked for advice about using ChatGPT and other forms of artificial intelligence.
While Pope Leo has continued to push AI developers and governments to formulate ethical guidelines and include controls to protect young people, he told the high school students that “safety is not only about rules; it is about education, and it is about personal responsibility. Filters and guidelines can help you, but they cannot make choices for you; only you can do that.”
“Using AI responsibly means using it in ways that help you grow, never in ways that distract you from your dignity or your call to holiness,” the pope said. “AI can process information quickly, but it cannot replace human intelligence — and don’t ask it to do your homework for you.”
AI, he said, “will not judge between what is truly right and wrong. And it won’t stand in wonder, in authentic wonder, before the beauty, the beauty of God’s creation. So be prudent. Be wise. Be careful that your use of AI does not limit your true human growth.”
“Use it in such a way that if it disappeared tomorrow, you would still know how to think, how to create, how to act on your own, how to form authentic friendships,” the pope said. And “remember, AI can never replace the unique gift that you are to the world.”
Responding to Wing, who asked about the future of the church, Pope Leo told the young people they are an important part of its present. “Your voices, your ideas, your faith matter right now, and the church needs you,” he said.
But, looking ahead, he asked them to ask themselves: “What can I offer the church for the future? How can I help others come to know Christ? How can I build peace and friendship around me?”
Smothers asked the pope if he ever finds it difficult to accept God’s mercy.
“All of us struggle with this at times,” the pope said. “The truth is that none of us is perfect.”
But, he added, it also is true that God always forgives.
“We may struggle to forgive, but God’s heart is different,” Pope Leo told the teens. “God never stops inviting us back. We experience this mercy of God in a special way in the sacrament of reconciliation; in confession, Jesus meets us through the priest. When we honestly confess our sins and accept our penance, the priest gives absolution, and we know with certainty that we are forgiven.”
“Do not focus only on your sins. Look to Jesus, trust his mercy and go to him with confidence; he will always welcome you home,” the pope said to applause.
Ponce spoke of the sadness and sense of being overwhelmed that many teens feel, and asked how to share his problems with God when it is sometimes difficult to feel that God is close to him.
“We cannot give our problems to someone we barely know,” the pope said. “Think of your closest friends: If they were hurting, you would talk to them. You would listen to them. You would stay close.”
God is always near to the brokenhearted, Pope Leo said, but to feel his presence, “We have to spend time with him in prayer, we have to have a relationship with him.”
The pope recommended praying the rosary, spending time in Eucharistic adoration and just spending time in the morning and at night sharing the day with God.
“Little by little, we learn to hear his concern, to feel his presence, with and through the people he sends to us,” he said. “A real friend is not only someone who is fun to be with, but it’s also someone who helps you grow closer to Jesus.”
“I enjoyed when he spoke about opening our hearts to Jesus, as it tied both to sacramental life and mental health,” Cameron Caprio said. “I also really enjoyed listening to him speak about being authentic, true to oneself, and not letting AI or politics or people stand in the way of one’s true potential and image. It was super inspiring, and as we talked, I felt like he and I were catching up like old friends and that we had a great bond and connection.”
The group of 40, including the three teens from the Archdiocese of Chicago, were seated next to the stage, which faced the video screen the pope was on in Lucas Oil Stadium.
There were among about 150 people from 150 parishes in the Archdiocese of Chicago who participated.
Vitellaro said that before the event, she was mostly nervous for the friends she had made over the weeks of preparation over Zoom who would be speaking directly to the pope.
“I knew my friends on the stage, how nervous they were, but everything went so smoothly and they did so well,” Vitellaro said. “They did so amazing.”
Kim McMillan, director of youth ministry at St. Benedict, said she and another youth group member who were seated in the arena, were deeply impressed by the blessing the pope gave to everyone there and everyone watching via livestream.
Cameron Caprio agreed that the blessing was special.
“I think my favorite part was when he actually blessed all of us,” she said. “We weren’t expecting it and it is something I will forever cherish.”
To watch the whole event, visit youtube.com/watch?v=tHSWW-c-fHM&t=982s.
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Contributing to this story was Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service