A likeness of St. Francis de Sales is seen in stained glass at Caldwell Chapel on the campus of The Catholic University of America in Washington May 25, 2021. CNS PHOTO/TYLER ORSBURN

The WKC’s commitment to you as we explore this new world of artificial intelligence

BY ELIZABETH WONG BARNSTEAD, THE WESTERN KENTUCKY CATHOLIC

This year, on the feast of St. Francis de Sales – one of the patrons of writers and journalists – Pope Leo XIV issued a challenge to all people, but especially to media professionals and others in communications industries.

“Do not renounce your ability to think,” the pope wrote in his message, which was released ahead of the 60th World Communications Day, and which will take place in May.

He went on to write, “By simulating human voices and faces, wisdom and knowledge, consciousness and responsibility, empathy and friendship, the systems known as artificial intelligence not only interfere with information ecosystems, but also encroach upon the deepest level of communication, that of human relationships.”

Artificial intelligence, or “AI,” is explained by the Catholic Media Association as “a technology that enables mechanical and computer systems to perform tasks that have been historically the purview of human intelligence, simulating human cognitive functions by drawing from data and algorithms to respond to queries.”

A simple example of this is asking an AI system, like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude for an answer about something. These programs quickly dig through the internet and other data-collection locations to produce a response almost immediately. AI can also be helpful to sort information and brainstorm ideas to provide a jumping-off point for the human creator.

Pope Leo warned, however, that “In recent years, artificial intelligence systems have increasingly taken control of the production of texts, music and videos. This puts much of the human creative industry at risk of being dismantled and replaced with the label ‘Powered by AI,’ turning people into passive consumers of unthought thoughts and anonymous products without ownership or love.”

Near the end of his message, the pope emphasized that “We need faces and voices to speak for people again. We need to cherish the gift of communication as the deepest truth of humanity, to which all technological innovation should also be oriented.”

As a journalist, this heartened me, and as a Catholic, this filled me with the joy that I have continued to experience following our American pope’s election last year. Besides his words of wisdom about the spiritual life, Pope Leo’s practical, pastoral guidance has been a calm amid the storm of polarized and ideological camps within our society.

It is with this in mind that the team which brings you The Western Kentucky Catholic would like to re-commit our promise to always provide you with true, good, and beautiful Catholic reporting and storytelling – written by human writers, for human readers.

The Western Kentucky Catholic’s commitment to you is as follows.

• The WKC will never, knowingly, publish AI-generated content without a note of transparency explaining why it was used in this situation. Because generative AI draws from data that is in the public domain, content created exclusively by AI cannot be copyrighted.
• The WKC will not publish anything written by AI, due to the above copyright restrictions. All writers must disclose any AI usage to us, which includes using AI for editing, researching ideas, or writing the content itself. The WKC reserves the right not to publish articles that appear to have been created with significant AI usage.
• The WKC will never use AI for editing articles, as this requires the insights and skills of a human.
• The WKC will also never print art created exclusively by AI, and if we do use art whose production was assisted by AI, we will disclose it. If a submitted image is suspected to be fully AI-generated, the submitter will be contacted by the WKC to discuss.
• The WKC will never knowingly print photos that have been edited by AI without an appropriate reason (such as protecting an individual’s privacy).

Learn more at https://wkc.owensborodiocese.org/submissions/.

The Western Kentucky Catholic is produced through the efforts of Elizabeth Wong Barnstead, editor and coordinator of diocesan publications; Rachel Hall, communications director and layout; Riley Greif, digital media specialist; Bishop William F. Medley, publisher; and all of you, our faithful readers.

Note: You can read Pope Leo’s full message for World Communications Day at https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/messages/communications/documents/20260124-messaggio-comunicazioni-sociali.html

Originally printed in the April 2026 issue of The Western Kentucky Catholic.