Our Year 10 Religion students are currently exploring the life of St Carlo Acutis and his mission to spread the Word of God through the internet. Carlo loved computers, gaming and technology. Yet what makes his story compelling is not that he rejected the digital world, but that he refused to allow it to control him. Instead, he asked a more important question: ‘What can I do with it?’
Carlo used his technological abilities to share his faith, most famously by creating a website documenting Eucharistic miracles. For him, technology was a tool. His faith, relationships and love of God remained the priorities. In today’s society, particularly within a Catholic community, this distinction feels increasingly important.
We live in a remarkable time. The device in our pocket provides access to almost limitless information. Artificial intelligence can explain concepts, generate ideas, analyse information and help us create in ways unimaginable only a few years ago. Yet Carlo’s example reminds us that access to more information does not automatically make us wiser.
Pope Leo XIV recognises the possibilities offered by digital technology and AI while reminding us that these tools must serve humanity. He has emphasised the need to protect the intellectual, spiritual and relational development of young people and has called for moderation and discipline in their use of technology. His reflections can be read in the Vatican’s address on preserving human voices and faces in the digital age.
This prompts an important question for our community: ‘Is technology helping us become more human?’ Does it make us more curious or simply give us quicker answers? Does it help us create or encourage us merely to consume? Does AI extend our thinking or replace the struggle through which genuine learning occurs?
Carlo reminds us that holiness does not require us to disconnect from the modern world. It requires us to understand what matters most within it. There is a significant difference between using technology and being used by technology.
At Kolbe, Courage, Faith and Excellence provide our compass. Courage may mean putting the phone away and being fully present. Faith asks whether we leave enough silence for prayer, reflection and God. Excellence challenges us not to outsource our curiosity, creativity and thinking simply because an easier option exists.
AI will undoubtedly be part of our students’ futures. Our responsibility extends beyond teaching them how to use it. We must help them develop the wisdom to know when to use it, why they are using it and when not to use it at all. Are these extraordinary tools helping us become the people God calls us to be?