Catholic archbishop stirs debate for blessing AI-generated icon: 'Have we no shame?'
A Roman Catholic archbishop in Belarus prompted backlash for blessing the first AI-generated religious icon last Sunday, prompting questions regarding the appropriate role of artificial intelligence in worship.
Archbishop Emeritus Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz blessed the AI image of Carlo Acutis, the first millennial saint, at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in the northeastern Belarusian town of Novolukoml during Mass, according to RT.
“Today we enter the world through the internet. What are we looking for there? Holiness? Far from always,” Kondrusiewicz said during his sermon, which expressed hope that the icon would encourage others to righteously use modern technology in pursuit of truth.
? Belarus has blessed its first AI-generated religious icon The icon depicts Carlo Acutis, an Italian teenager who was canonized in 2025 and became known as the “Cyber Apostle.” The icon was installed in a Catholic church in Novolukoml, where Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz blessed it on October 11. The move has sparked debate on social media, with some believers arguing that AI-generated images should not be used for prayer.
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) October 12, 2026
Acutis, who was beatified by the Roman Catholic Church in 2020 and canonized last year, became known among Catholics as the patron saint of the internet because of his aptitude with computers, a skill he used to witness to others, according to The New York Times.
Acutis, who died of leukemia at age 15 in 2006, was born May 3, 1991, in London before moving with his parents to Milan months later. Though he wasn't raised as particularly devout, he began to take an early interest in the Catholic faith, especially the rosary, as noted by the Catholic News Agency (CNA). He taught himself complex computer coding skills and used them months before he died to create a website that archived reported Eucharistic miracles.
The AI-generated image, which shows Acutis holding a rosary and an open laptop, was created in part with a prompt by engineer Dmitry Kulpanovich, photographer Viktor Veden and designer Andrey Kabanov, according to RT. The image was placed in a side altar over a previous icon of Mary Magdalene.
Kondrusiewicz's blessing of the AI-generated icon prompted pushback from many on social media, including Catholics. Some pointed out that the blessing appeared to go against the guidance Pope Leo XIV laid out in his encyclical on AI and elsewhere.
"In this era of artificial intelligence, it is becoming urgent to distinguish human art from what machines produce. There is an ontological difference, even before an aesthetic one, between art and what a machine can generate through statistical calculation based on millions of images created by others," the pope wrote in a statement earlier this month.
"Algorithms lack the spark of humanity. For this reason, the [Catholic] Church wishes to renew an alliance with artists and cultural institutions to safeguard our humanity," he added.
Father Matthew P. Schneider, a Roman Catholic priest and professor of theology at Holy Apostles College & Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut, responded to the AI icon by echoing the pope's concerns.
"Have we no shame? Sacred art must always be human made. Icons, if we understand the theology behind them, even more so," he said.
"Modernism is like a wrecking ball, smashing its way through the oldest institution in the world. What will it take to stop it?" asked Calvin Robinson, a priest in the English Catholic Church, which is not affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church.
"No. Just, no. Stop this right now," said commentator Rod Dreher, who is Eastern Orthodox.
Scott Roberts, a church elder and pastor at Bayfair Baptist Church in Pickering, Ontario, suggested that those who are upset by venerating an AI-generated icon are missing the deeper problem with venerating icons at all.
"The scandal here is far bigger than AI-generated artwork. Why is a church blessing religious images for use in prayer in the first place?" Roberts wrote.
"Scripture commands us to flee idolatry (1 Corinthians 10:14), forbids bowing before religious images (Exodus 20:4-5), and declares Christ our ONE mediator (1 Timothy 2:5). The early Church devoted itself to the apostles' teaching and prayer (Acts 2:42). Where did the apostles ever instruct Christians to venerate icons?" he added.
