Paul Scherz briefs bishops about artificial intelligence at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore on Nov. 12, 2025. / Credit: Tessa Gervasini/CNA
Baltimore, Maryland, Nov 13, 2025 / 13:50 pm (CNA).
The U.S. bishops received a briefing on the benefits and risks of artificial intelligence (AI) from Paul Scherz at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore.
Scherz, a theology professor at the University of Notre Dame, has studied the ethics of AI. At the Nov. 12 meeting, Scherz highlighted some of his findings and shared how the bishops should approach the technology within their dioceses.
AI technologies "have great potential to contribute to human flourishing and the common good," Scherz said. "But note that it would be a mistake to describe these programs as intelligent in the same way that humans are."
"They lack consciousness and any kind of subjective relationship to the world. So as Pope Leo says, 'The person is not a system of algorithms. He or she is a creature, relationship, mystery.' Thus, despite their power and utility, they shouldn't be called persons or truly intelligent," he said.
"We're made for a relationship as created in the image of the triune God. We don't find our good alone," Scherz said. "Instead, our individual flourishing is enmeshed with the flourishing of those around us. Together, we see the common good in our common life."
AI in Catholic ministries
In his discussion, Scherz highlighted three Catholic ministries that can implement AI while also detailing the potential threats.
The "largest Catholic ministry" AI can be implemented in is health care. Since "17% of U.S. patients receive care at a Catholic institution, it's almost certainly the ministry in which the most non-Catholics interact with the Church," Scherz said.
"Through these health care institutions, the Church realizes Jesus' call to heal the sick," Scherz said. "Health care is also a sector of the economy that has seen a rapid adoption of AI technologies."
"For the past decade, health care technology companies have sought to put the vast scores of data embedded in their electronic medical records to use and train AI," Scherz said. "Insurance companies are using AI to help fix and complete claims that lack incorrect information."
The issue is the "bias from lack of diversity in training data, such as early genomics studies largely containing research subjects who were middle-class and European descent," he said.
While AI is used to improve diagnostics and enact greater efficiency, we must be wary of the "significant dangers," Scherz said. "Anything that restricts basic access in a biased manner would be an offense against the equal human dignity emerging from our shared participation in the image of God."
Also, "the algorithm cannot substitute a gesture of closeness or a word of consolation," Scherz said. "Much of what practitioners do is not a pure analytic process. They negotiate with patients to accept care, maintain the spirits of people suffering from a chronic disease, and tinker with therapy so that they better fit the complicated lives of patients."
"A second ministry heavily affected by AI are Catholic schools," Scherz said. Education and technology entrepreneurs "are promising a future in which AI enables personalized education for every student."
"In this vision, AI would be a personal tutor for each child, or at least develop learning plans tailored to the individual," but AI cannot replace teachers, because they "do more than convey knowledge," Scherz said.
Teachers "model essential human qualities and inspire the joy of discovery. This relationship of encounter is at the heart of true education. The teacher fosters virtues and serves as an exemplar," he said.
He also highlighted the clear threat that students will abuse AI and use it to complete writing assignments. Scherz said: "This is a crisis for schools, especially those of the liberal arts curriculum like Catholic schools, because writing is not just about producing content. Writing essays forces a student to think, to organize ideas, to argue coherently."
Lastly, Scherz addressed AI in the pastoral field. He said: "There is increasing evidence that people are turning to chatbots for religious resources" and AI "is becoming a standard for religious authorities."
"People are prompting AI, or developing AI applications, that frame their responses and act in the persona of God or a religious figure," Scherz said. "People are using AI to develop spiritual inventories or to provide spiritual direction."
"Catholic sites are using AI to provide laypeople with access to Church teaching," Scherz said. He explained that pastors and parishioners using AI as a research tool to find interpretations of Scripture, catechism information, or doctrine could be beneficial.
For these Catholic AI systems to work, people must actually examine the source material provided. Scherz said: "Unfortunately, people tend to rely on the AI summary, and what starts as a research tool can frequently become more than that."
AI companions "are incredibly dangerous, especially due to AI's tendencies toward hallucination and psychosis," Scherz said. Also "engagement with chatbots can prevent actual encounter with pastors, as people may feel their needs are meant by AI."
AI "also raises concerns on the side of pastors," Scherz said. "There are increasing reports of pastors using it for the spiritual aspect of their work, like writing homilies or preparing religious education materials."
"The problem is that, as with writing in general, homilies are in part formative — shaping the pastor as he engages with Scripture," Scherz said. "Totally abnegating this role to AI would undermine the authenticity of the pastor's witness."
"Technologies provide great opportunities, but also great dangers. They can lead to injustice, alienation, and deformation of character," Scherz said. "At the same time, AI offers greater efficiency and new capacities for serving the common good."
Scherz said: "The emergence of AI provides the Church with an evangelical opportunity … People are asking basic questions of what it means to be human for the first time in a long time" and "the Church can provide those answers."
