Asian bishops’ communications arm urges AI safeguards
By CBCP News
The Catholic Church’s communications arm in Asia is urging bishops’ conferences across the region to adopt artificial intelligence safeguards and strengthen support for digital missionaries.
In a statement following a five-day meeting in Macau, the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences Office of Social Communications (FABC-OSC) called for pastoral AI policies, digital literacy programs and authentic Church resources in local languages.
“[We] encourage episcopal conferences to establish pastoral safeguards for the use of AI appropriate to their context in line with the teachings of the Church,” said the statement, signed by FABC-OSC chairman Bishop Marcelino Antonio Maralit Jr.
The bishops also announced plans to establish a regional committee to train and support digital missionaries, whose work they said should be integrated into the Church’s evangelization mission.
The OSC and Radio Veritas Asia pledged to sustain and promote the Asian Catholic Digital Missionaries Network.
The statement also warned of digital threats, including online sexual exploitation, cyber scams, deepfakes and unequal access to technology, as well as exploited labor and environmental damage linked to AI.
It stressed that technology must serve human dignity and the common good without replacing authentic human encounters, prayer and sacramental life.
“Behind every screen, there is a face,” the bishops said, adding that “only human persons can carry authentic presence.”
They noted that Asia accounts for about two-thirds of the world’s six billion internet users, while Catholics make up only 11% of the continent’s population, making digital platforms an important missionary frontier.
The statement followed the FABC-OSC Bishops’ Meeting held Oct. 27–31 in Macau, which brought together prelates, priests, religious and lay communication leaders.
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