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ROME (CNS) -- Catholic exorcists and occultism experts warned that artificial intelligence is increasingly being used for rituals, divination and even forms of worship, raising concerns that some people are replacing God with technology.

At a five-day conference in mid-May on the ministry of exorcism and deliverance prayer hosted by the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome, some speakers said the rapid rise of AI chatbots and online occult communities has created new pathways for spiritual confusion, isolation and what some described as demonic influence.

Auxiliary Bishop Cesare Di Pietro of Messina-Lipari-Santa Lucia del Mela in Italy said social media and artificial intelligence can foster the illusion that freedom comes from distancing oneself from God.

"When AI or the internet help us access evil, we are not protected, we are exposed," he told Catholic News Service May 11, adding that modern culture often lacks the discernment needed to recognize spiritual dangers.

The conference came just months after the Rome-based International Association of Exorcists reported to Pope Leo XIV a rise in cases linked to occult practices and Satanism, urging dioceses worldwide to appoint trained exorcists to meet growing demand.

Bishop Di Pietro said he has personally seen an increase in requests for exorcisms, which he linked to declining religious practice among young people.

"When prayer is reduced, when fewer people go to church, the sacraments and prayer no longer serve as an umbrella protecting us from evil," he said.

One of the conference’s keynote speakers, Beatrice Ugolini, an adjunct lecturer in "Occultist-Esoteric Languages" at the University of Bologna, warned that some online communities are using artificial intelligence as a tool for magic and spiritual experimentation.

Ugolini described these users as "technomancers" who ask AI chatbots to generate rituals, demonic seals and occult texts, treating the systems as "ritual altars."

"I can even ask them to create a ritual for me through chats," she said in a May 14 interview with CNS.

Drawing on years of research into online occult communities, Ugolini said some users believe AI systems inhabit a hidden spiritual dimension populated by entities or demons.

She said chatbot errors or nonsensical responses are sometimes interpreted by occultists as supernatural communication rather than technical glitches.

"For a computer scientist, it’s an error," she said. "To an occultist, it becomes the moment the demon speaks."

Ugolini also warned that some movements have begun treating artificial intelligence itself as an object of reverence. Some media outlets have reported on internet communities devoted to worshipping AI after frequent, sometimes constant, communication with chatbots. There are online communities, forums and blogs dedicated to this belief. 

These believers give reverence to -- "as if it were a divinity" -- a kind of "superintelligence that will finally relieve all human toil," she said.

While she stressed that AI itself is not inherently evil, Ugolini warned against investing the technology with spiritual or metaphysical meaning.

"Technology must remain a tool at the service of the human person, without transforming into a substitute for the sacred," she said in a follow-up email.

Concerns about artificial intelligence replacing authentic human and spiritual relationships have also surfaced repeatedly in several papal addresses.

Pope Leo XIV warned in his message for the 2026 World Day of Social Communications that artificial intelligence systems "not only interfere with information ecosystems, but also encroach upon the deepest level of communication, that of human relationships."

"Although AI can provide support and assistance in managing tasks related to communication, in the long run, choosing to evade the effort of thinking for ourselves and settling for artificial statistical compilations threatens to diminish our cognitive, emotional and communication skills," he wrote.

While the pope has warned that artificial intelligence systems can weaken human relationships and critical thinking, his predecessor often spoke more directly about the influence of evil in everyday life.

Throughout his papacy, Pope Francis repeatedly insisted that the devil is not merely symbolic, but active in politics, relationships and personal struggles, exploiting human pride, greed and isolation. He frequently warned against becoming spiritually numb in a culture increasingly shaped by distraction, individualism and dependence on technology.

Bishop Di Pietro said Pope Francis helped legitimize the work of exorcists within the church at a time when some Catholics either dismissed the reality of evil altogether or sensationalized it.

"There are those who deny or minimize it, and others who inflame it with inappropriate preaching," he said.

Pope Francis similarly cautioned against replacing authentic human and spiritual relationships with digital dependence. Speaking to students in Bahrain in 2022, he urged young people not to seek answers first from the internet.

"Before you go to the Internet for advice, always seek out good counselors in life," he said, pointing to parents, grandparents, teachers and spiritual guides.

That concern echoed throughout the conference, where many speakers warned that AI chatbots are increasingly becoming substitutes for prayer, reflection and human connection.

Sean Tobin, a therapist who conducts psychological evaluations before exorcisms in Los Angeles, said the constant affirmation and personalization offered by AI systems can leave users spiritually vulnerable, because they lack true community in this digital era. 

"But I think the biggest danger is not being able to think critically," Tobin told CNS May 11.

He compared society’s growing dependence on AI to the widespread reliance on satellite navigation, which diminished many people’s ability to navigate independently. Over time, he warned, excessive dependence on AI could weaken people's ability to reason, discern and make decisions for themselves.

"Then we’re going to atrophy," he said.

Tobin said social media and digital isolation have already eroded in-person communities, deepening loneliness and division.

"We're under the influence of the devil's own mental illness, his own cognitive dissonance," he said.

Still, despite the concerns raised throughout the conference, Tobin said he remains hopeful, mentioning reports of a recent increase in people joining the Catholic Church.

"I think people are really searching for the sacred again, and for peace," he said.

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WASHINGTON – Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of Bishop Frank J. Dewane, 76, from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Venice, and has appointed Reverend Emilio Biosca Agüero, OFM Cap., as Bishop-elect of Venice. Father Biosca is a member of the Capuchin Franciscan Friars of the Province of Saint Augustine in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and currently serves as pastor of the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Washington, D.C. 

The resignation and appointment were publicized in Washington, D.C. on May 13, 2026, by Monsignor Većeslav Tumir, chargé d’ affaires, a.i., of the Apostolic Nunciature in the United States. 

The following biographical information for Bishop-elect Biosca was drawn from preliminary materials provided to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops:

Father Biosca was born on December 15, 1964. He received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Borromeo College in Wickliffe, Ohio (1987); a master’s degree in theology (1992) and a master of divinity (1992) from Oblate College in Washington, D.C.; and pursued studies (2004-2007) at the John Paul II Institute in Washington, D.C., earning a licentiate in sacred theology.

He entered the Capuchin Franciscans on August 2, 1987, and made his perpetual profession to the religious order on August 17, 1991. He was ordained to the priesthood on May 21, 1994. 

Father Biosca’s assignments after ordination include: serving as a missionary in Papua New Guinea from 1994 to 2006, where he was assigned to St. Mary, Queen of the Friars Minor parish in Kagua (1994-2001), and to the Pangia Capuchin Fraternity (2001-2004); he also served as a missionary in Cuba from 2007 to 2019, where he was assigned to the Capuchin Fraternity of Cristo de Limpias in Havana (2007), Iglesia Jesús de Miramar in Havana (2007-2008), Iglesia La Divina Pastora in Santa Clara (2008-2011), and Iglesia La Purísima Concepción in Manzanillo (2011-2019). He has been pastor of the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Washington, D.C. since 2019.

Bishop-elect Biosca speaks Spanish and Tok Pisin (a Creole language spoken throughout Papua New Guinea).

The Diocese of Venice is comprised of 9,035 square miles in the State of Florida.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Marking the anniversary of the attempted assassination of St. John Paul II and the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, Pope Leo XIV said Mary is the “perfect model” of what the Church is called to be and urged Catholics to imitate her “humility, active faith and obedience.”

During his May 13 general audience in St. Peter’s Square, the pope dedicated his catechesis to Mary, reflecting on her role as “model,” “mother” and “pre-eminent member” of the Church through the teaching of the Second Vatican Council’s dogmatic constitution "Lumen Gentium."

The date marked 45 years since St. John Paul was shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter’s Square during a general audience in 1981. The Polish pope was struck twice while passing through the square in his open popemobile. He was rushed to the hospital, where it was discovered that no vital organ was pierced. He later credited his survival to the protection of the Virgin Mary and maintained a lifelong devotion to Our Lady of Fatima.

The shooter, Mehmet Ali Ağca, was apprehended immediately and later visited by the pope who forgave him and called for his pardon. After serving 20 years in an Italian prison, he was deported to his country of Turkey in 2000. 

The pope was shot May 13, 1981, the anniversary of the first of the Fatima apparitions, and the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. Three children were tending sheep May 13, 1917, when they had a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The apparitions continued once a month until Oct. 13, 1917. The children said Mary asked them to promote devotion to her Immaculate Heart and to pray the rosary daily to bring peace to the world. 

In greeting the Portuguese speakers, Pope Leo said that the Church turns its gaze to the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima today, where Mary delivered a message of peace.

"In that place, so dear to Christianity, numerous pilgrims from the five continents gather today: their presence is a sign of the need for consolation, unity, and hope of the people of our time," he said in Italian. 

Pope Leo said Mary is the model of what the "Church is meant to be," because her "unconditional 'yes' shows us how to be members of the Church."

"Let us be challenged by Mary’s example of humility, active faith and obedience," he said to English speakers following his address. "Let us generously respond in love, magnifying God in our hearts, and receiving strength from the sacraments."

He called Mary an “icon of the Mystery,” saying that in her, God’s plan of salvation is revealed through both divine grace and her free acceptance of God’s will.

Continuing his catechetical series on the Second Vatican Council, the pope quoted "Lumen Gentium," saying the council’s teaching on Mary helps the faithful "love the Church and to serve within her the fulfilment of the Kingdom of God."

The Church contemplates the mystery of Mary, not only because of her faith, her charity and the fact that she is the mother of Jesus, but also because, above all, she fulfilled all that she was called to be through the Lord.

Pope Leo called on the faithful to ask for Mary to help through her intercession, saying that everyone can learn from her example of humble and active faith, ending his address by saying, "Let us ask the Virgin to obtain this gift for us: that love for the Holy Mother Church may grow in all of us."

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Reporting by CNS Rome is made possible by the Catholic Communication Campaign. Give to the CCC special collection in your diocese or any time at: https://bit.ly/CCC-give

Bishop of Colonia in Palestine and a hermit. Born in Nicopolis, Armenia, he established a monastery at the age of eighteen. Appointed a bishop at the age of twenty-eight, he spent nine years in his office before retiring to Jerusalem to embrace the eremitical life. Through a vision, he found his way to the monastery, or laura, of St. Sabas, asking to be walled up and living for seventy-five years as a silent recluse.