Symposium

29 September 2025

Chosen theme for WCD 2026: Preserving human voices and faces

Today, the Holy See Press Office announced the theme chosen by Pope Leo XIV for the 60th World Communications Day.

In today’s communication ecosystems, technology influences interactions more than ever before – from algorithms curating news feeds to AI authoring entire texts and conversations. 

Humanity today has possibilities that were unimaginable just a few years ago. But while these tools offer efficiency and reach, they cannot replace the uniquely human capacities for empathy, ethics and moral responsibility. Public communication requires human judgment, not just data patterns. The challenge is to ensure that humanity remains the guiding agent. The future of communication must be one where machines serve as tools that connect and facilitate human lives, rather than erode the human voice.

We have great opportunities. At the same time, the risks are real. AI can generate engaging but misleading, manipulative and harmful information, replicate biases and stereotypes from its training data, and amplify disinformation through simulation of human voices and faces. It can also invade people’s privacy and intimacy without their consent. Overreliance on AI weakens critical thinking and creative skills, while monopolized control of these systems raises concerns about centralization of power and inequality. 

It has become thus urgent to introduce Media Literacy in the educational systems, or even Media and Artificial Intelligence Literacy (MAIL). As Catholics we can and should give our contribution, so that people – especially youth – acquire the capacity of critical thinking, and grow in the freedom of the spirit.