Pope Leo XIV is not on the networks. Rosalía, yes. That’s where the dilemma begins.
With Lux, the Catalan demands purity, connection with a higher sphere. After the vital saturation of Motomami, after accessing the earthly ALL, the longing returns to the Sourceand. “Through my body, you can see the light,” he sings on “Divinize.”
Fourteen languages, the London Symphony, saints who disfigured themselves to enter a monastery. ¿Marketing or mystique? Probably both. And perhaps that paradox makes it the most powerful spiritual phenomenon of this decade.
In parallel, Leo XIV called the leaders of Google, OpenAI, Meta and Anthropic in physical meetings within the Vatican in 2025, rejecting the digital mediation that his predecessor Francis embraced with viral fervor.
The contradiction is revealing: while Rosalía leads the spiritual conversation of millions from Instagram, TikTok and Spotify, marketing transcendence as a productthe Pope defends the face-to-face meeting and asserts that only in the real world do dignity, human connection, and the encounter with divine truth occur.
Who influences the spiritual life of a generation the most? Can an influencer influence more spiritually than a pope who refuses to be one?
Leo XIV chose his name in honor of Leo XIII, the pontiff of the Industrial Revolution who defended the rights of workers. Its message is explicit: we are facing another revolution, and the Church must protect what makes us human. “The person is not a system of algorithms: it is a creature, a relationship, a mystery,” he declared this week.
His strategy radically contrasts with that of Francis — the pope of the viral image in a puffer jacket generated by AI, the pontiff who used the networks as a global pulpit. Faced with this search for virality, Leo XIV opts for fewer headlines, more meaningful conversations, generating impact face to face.
With him there is no livestream nor trending topic. Hardly headlines in highly reputable sources, such as CNN International. Your bet is clear: disconnect to reconnect.
That’s why it calls on Silicon Valley executives not for a photocall, but for an uncomfortable conversation about human dignity, about the impact of its algorithms on children’s neurological development, about if massive access to data can be confused with intelligence.
“In some cases, AI has been nobly used to promote equality, but there is the possibility that it will be used for selfish gain or, worse, to foment conflict,” he warned tech leaders gathered at the apostolic palace.
The meeting sought to generate change, causing unavoidable discomfort at the round table. The decision-makers of the future of AI—just half a dozen global CEOs—faced, face to face, the need to seek agreements on questions without algorithmic answers.
Is this private dialogue with decision-makers the most effective strategy?
Leo XIV bets that yes. Rosalía, on the contrary. She needs the networks so that her message of transcendence reaches millions; seeks to spark spiritual conversations thanks to them. He rejects them because he believes that the message is corrupted in digital mediation.
Two opposite ways to respond to the same phenomenon: the excess of information, the feeling of saturation, generalized individualism and cynicism have created a thirst for transcendence that is manifested everywhere. Hence, nuns have become fashionable. And also the articles on universal consciousness and the role of AI in questioning materialism.
The debate on how to channel this need is open, because there are many who—inside and outside the networks—seek inspiration, connection and guidance, aware that there is no simple answer.
If we seek to provide height of vision, we need to first recognize that human progress has been made for millennia without AI: intuitive intelligence, operating from the most private corner of the SELF, has allowed humanity to make exponential leaps; ontological, scientific and artistic leaps that did not arise from the accumulation of data but from contemplation, deep connection and silence.
But we also need to understand that we are facing a change of era. AI is an unstoppable engine of social change that Leo XIV asks to channel properly.
In this hyper-digitized context, she fears that excessive exposure to screens and algorithms will stunt access to that mysterious universal, superior and “pure” intelligence—spiritual purity also being a key theme for Rosalía in her new album.
The dilemma of how to integrate artificial intelligence and human intelligence remains open. Seeking answers to universal dilemmas has been the Vatican specialty for 2,000 years, although this does not prevent new voices from entering the debate; among them, that of Rosalía, of whom the most traditional Catholics will say that “everything that glitters is not lux.”
However, many think that her musical initiative serves as a reference, and that her spiritual testimony, her story of a consciousness greater than herself, is valuable.
What if both strategies were complementary instead of exclusive? That the new generations listen to Lux could raise questions that only the real meeting – the one defended by Leo XIV – can answer in depth.
We will have to watch how events develop. Maybe, in the end, God is writing straight with crooked lines: using networks to generate longing, and silence to satisfy it.