Pope Leo XIV wears only white socks and he doesn’t have a set starting word for Wordle every day.
These were some of the insights he shared on Friday with 16,000 young people gathered at a football stadium in Indianapolis at the National Catholic Youth Conference.
From his armchair at the Vatican, Pope Leo, the first American pope, spoke to the American young people via screen. The event, which the Catholic Church called “historic,” wasn’t a direct address, but instead a dialogue in which the pope answered prepared questions from five young people from across the country — Iowa, California, Nevada, Maryland and Hawaii.
The Catholic church has been celebrating 2025 as a special Jubilee year, a year of forgiveness and renewal that was kicked off by Pope Francis in January. In July, Pope Leo met with Catholic “influencers” and “digital missionaries” at a special Jubilee event in St. Peter’s Basilica.
The conversation on Friday morning touched on forgiveness, technology and AI, friendship, and the role of young people in the future of the church.
“You are not only the future of the church. You are the present. Your voices, your faith matter right now, and the church needs you,” Pope Leo told the crowd. “The church needs what you have been given to share with all of us.”
But a word that kept surfacing throughout his comments to the young Catholics revolved around the quest for “authenticity” — seeking genuine, real-life relationships in a world of distraction and artificial intelligence, both with each other and with Jesus.
Importance of friendship
The questions raised by the young people cut to the core of what many of their peers struggle with today: balancing technology with real-life interactions, challenges with mental health, finding the ability to forgive others, feeling closeness with God on a personal level and what role young people play in the Catholic Church today.
“ It’s easy at times to feel lost, but I’m afraid to talk about it because I don’t think others will really understand how I feel,” said Ezequiel Ponce, of Downey, California.
Pope Leo encouraged young people not to shy away from closeness with the trusted adults and peers in their lives — parents, teachers, priests, youth ministers and friends.
“ When you find someone you truly trust, don’t be afraid to open your heart,” he said.
He went on to emphasize the importance of “the gift of true friends” and building “authentic trust” with others.
“A real friend is not only someone who’s fun to be with, although that is good too. It’s someone who helps you grow closer to Jesus, someone who encourages you to become a better person,” he said. “Good friends also push us to seek help when life gets difficult or confusing. Good friends will always tell us the truth, even when that’s not easy to do.”
Technology and distraction
Throughout the conversation, Pope Leo balanced sacred authority with a more personal tone, openly acknowledging how he wrestles with some of the same challenges young people face.
“When you get distracted, what do you do to bring yourself back in?” asked moderator Katie Prejean McGrady, an author and CNN Vatican analyst, saying she was veering off script.
“It depends on the distraction, actually,” he replied. “But sometimes the best thing to do is to follow the distraction for a moment, see why it’s there, but then to turn back and to remember why you’re there … and to say to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord, I’m distracted right now. I know you understand.’”
Christopher Pantelakis of Nevada admitted that he sometimes finds himself “endlessly scrolling” and asked for advice on balancing social media use while still prioritizing real-life connections.
Pope Leo noted that technology can support a life of faith, connecting believers across the globe and offering tools for prayer and Bible study. But it can never replace in-person connection. In-person encounters, he said, offer “ simple things, a hug, a handshake, a smile. There is nothing that can replace true human presence, being with one another.”
Technology, he emphasized, should be used wisely, “without letting it overshadow our relationships.”
He pointed to recently canonized Saint Carlo Acutis, the first millennial saint, as an example of healthy discipline and utilizing technology to advance the mission of the church. Acutis served the poor and set time limits for video games and electronic devices, Pope Leo noted.
“Because of this discipline, he found a healthy balance and kept his priorities clear,” Pope Leo said. “Be intentional with your screen time. Make sure technology serves your life and not the other way around.”
‘AI can’t replace human intelligence’
When asked about AI, Pope Leo cautioned that its use must never restrict young people’s “true human growth.”
“Filters and guidelines can help you, but they cannot make choices for you. Only you can do that,” he said.
Deepening friendship with God, he added, helps young people mature spiritually, think critically and “examine reality and … search for truth, beauty and goodness.”
AI should support that journey, instead of weakening it, he noted.
“ 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,” he said.
AI cannot replace human intelligence or offer wisdom, he continued.
“AI will not judge between what is truly right and wrong, it won’t stand in authentic wonder before the beauty, the beauty of God’s creation.”
Pope Leo encouraged the youth to build daily moments of silence — through adoration, scripture or prayer.
“Looking for those little spaces of time when we can be with him — little by little, we learn to hear his voice,” he said. “To feel his presence, both within and through the people that he sends to us.”
Building bridges
Being young, Pope Leo said, comes with a natural desire to make a difference. That’s why, he went on, “life is not only about doing what feels good to yourself, what makes you feel comfortable.”
He encouraged the youth to seek “greatness,” which at its core comes from being transformed through a “friendship with Jesus Christ.”
Pope Leo also highlighted the responsibility of young people to be peacemakers.
“Jesus told his disciples to be peacemakers — people who build bridges instead of walls; people who value dialogue and unity instead of division.”
He emphasized that the church is not a political institution, but a guide for moral formation.
“The church helps form your conscience so you can think and act with wisdom and love,” he said.
The meeting concluded with the five young participants taking a selfie with Pope Leo displayed on the stadium screen.
McGrady assured him the photo would reach him: “We’ll text it to you.”