“God is love,” the Gospel tells us, and if we live in love, we live in God. (1 John 4:7-21)

This isn’t greeting card poetry.

It is Jesus dying for friends, then turning to us and saying, “Your turn.”

The command is simple and honest: love because we were loved first. We can’t claim to love an invisible God while ignoring our visible neighbour — love has to be visible in how we treat the person standing right there.

This was never a new idea. Jesus drew it from the heart of the Torah, and Paul knew it too — that without love, every gift we carry amounts to nothing. Love bears all things, believes all things, endures all things, not because it is easy, but because that is what love is. It doesn’t quit.

When technology meets communion

Now comes AI—this brilliant extension of human creativity, itself reflecting how God wired us. It links continents in seconds and spots patterns we’d never catch alone.

Pope Benedict saw it early: our craving for digital connection isn’t just convenience. It’s about communion, echoing God’s own relational heart.

Pope Francis pressed further. Technology should spark real encounters, not turn us into “highway scrollers passing each other by.”

Used rightly, AI can carry Gospel truth to forgotten places, support education and healing.

The soul gap

But here’s the tension: AI excels at imitation and can’t touch what matters most, deep down.

AI can generate sermons, mimic conversation, and predict our needs. Yet it lacks a soul. It can’t be compassionate or build virtue. Only love does that.

The Church captured it in Antiqua et Nova: human intelligence reflects God because it reaches for truth, beauty, ultimate questions.

AI? It’s a tool—powerful but blind to wisdom. Let it steer morally, and we get “ethics apps” that kill our freedom or biased code that deepens division.

Chain it to Christ

I’ve watched people scroll for hours, technically connected but starving for real conversation. I’ve seen deepfakes that destroy trust, and the world is very familiar with job loss that strips human dignity.

The Gospel cuts through it all: if you can’t love the person you see, your God-talk is just noise.

So we ought to use AI boldly—but chain it to Christ’s command.

Build systems that create solidarity, not manipulation.

In the end, faith, hope, and love remain. And love is greatest.

• John Singarayar SVD holds a doctorate in Anthropology. He is an author of several books and regularly contributes to academic conferences and publications focusing on sociology, anthropology, tribal studies, spirituality, and mission.