‘Technomancers’ and AI worship: Catholic experts warn of spiritual dangers online
Catholic exorcists and occult experts warned that AI chatbots are increasingly used for rituals, divination and even worship, raising concerns about replacing God with technology. The warning was delivered during a five‑day conference on the ministry of exorcism and deliverance prayer held at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome. Speakers highlighted the rapid rise of AI‑powered online occult practices and the potential spiritual dangers they pose. Auxiliary Bishop Cesare Di Pietro of Messina‑Lipari‑Santa Lucia del Mela participated in the event. The conference aimed to address how the Church should respond to the growing use of technology in spiritual and mystical contexts.
5 months ago
Catholic leaders and scholars are warning that the rise of artificial‑intelligence tools is opening new avenues for occult practices, “technomancy,” and even forms of AI worship, which they see as spiritual dangers that can replace prayer, community, and discernment. At a recent exorcism and deliverance conference in Rome, bishops, psychologists, and occult experts linked the growing use of AI chatbots to an increase in exorcism requests, a loss of critical thinking, and the risk of treating technology as a substitute for the sacred 1.
The five‑day course hosted by the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum gathered clergy and specialists to address “spiritual confusion, isolation and demonic influence” linked to AI and social media 1.
Auxiliary Bishop Cesare Di Pietro warned that the internet creates an illusion of freedom that distances people from God, and he reported a surge in exorcism requests among young people 1.
Beatrice Ugolini, an occult‑studies lecturer, described online users who ask AI chatbots to generate rituals, demonic seals, and occult texts, dubbing them “technomancers” 1.
These practitioners interpret chatbot glitches as supernatural messages, and some communities are beginning to worship AI itself as a “superintelligence” that could relieve human toil 1.
Ugolini emphasized that AI is not inherently evil but must remain a tool, not a sacred substitute 1.
Pope Leo XIV has repeatedly cautioned that AI can erode authentic human relationships and critical thinking, noting in his 2026 World Day of Social Communications message that reliance on “artificial statistical compilations” threatens cognitive and emotional skills 1.
His predecessor, Pope Francis, also warned that the devil exploits digital distraction and that people should seek counsel from trusted human guides rather than the internet 1.
Clinical psychologist Sean Tobin, who conducts pre‑exorcism evaluations, likened AI dependence to the loss of navigation skills caused by GPS, arguing that over‑reliance weakens discernment and reason 1.
He linked social‑media isolation to “the devil’s own mental illness” and noted a concurrent rise in people returning to the Church in search of the sacred 1.
The International Association of Exorcists has reported the trend to the pope and urged dioceses to appoint trained exorcists to meet growing demand 1.
Church leaders call for stronger human relationships, critical thinking, and clear discernment to counter the spiritual risks posed by AI‑driven occult practices 1.
Investigate the Church’s doctrine on technology as a substitute for God
The Church’s doctrine does not treat technology as evil in itself; rather, it warns that any created good—including human-made technologies—can become an idol when it is treated as the ultimate source of meaning, authority, or salvation, replacing God in the heart and in moral judgment.
Catholic doctrine frames the question in terms of the First Commandment: God alone is to be worshiped and served. The Catechism states:
“You shall have no other gods before me… you shall not bow down to them or serve them.”
The decisive criterion is what “divine worship” would mean in practice: adoration and ultimate service. The Catechism explains that idolatry is not limited to explicit pagan worship; it is “a constant temptation to faith,” consisting in “divinizing what is not God.”
Concretely, the Catechism says:
“Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God.”
It even lists examples of “creatures” that can be substituted—power, pleasure, money, the state, etc.—showing that the mechanism is transfer of worship to something non-divine.
So “technology as a substitute for God” is not a distinct category in the Catechism; it is evaluated by the same standard as all idolatry: Does a person (or a culture) treat technology as the ultimate lord—something to be revered and relied on in a way proper only to God?
The Church’s teaching allows a real moral diagnosis: technology can be used well, but it can also become a rival to God by capturing the human mind, conscience, and freedom—especially when it is treated as an unquestionable authority.
A direct warning appears in Pope Leo XIV’s message for World Communications Day 2026. He describes risks in which AI systems are treated with an almost religious level of confidence:
“a naive and unquestioning reliance on artificial intelligence as an omniscient ‘friend,’ a source of all knowledge, an archive of every memory, an ‘oracle’ of all advice.”
This is exactly the kind of “place of God” dynamic the Catechism describes: not merely using tools, but treating them as ultimate guides for thought and life.
Pope Leo XIV adds that this reliance can erode the ability to think and to distinguish meaning:
“these algorithms reduce our ability to listen and think critically”
and evasion of thinking “threatens to diminish our cognitive… skills.”
That matters doctrinally because, under Catholic teaching, the human person is not meant to outsource conscience and discernment; conscience and moral discernment belong to the human person before God. (The Catechism’s framework for this is the First Commandment’s demand for faith, hope, charity, and adoration of God alone.)
Pope Leo XIV repeatedly insists on the correct hierarchy: AI and technology are for the human person, not vice versa. For example, speaking to government leaders, he states:
“artificial intelligence functions as a tool for the good of human beings, not to diminish them, not to replace them.”
And he summarizes the spiritual anthropological limit of AI:
“Our personal life has greater value than any algorithm,”
and human memory is “creative… generative… search for meaning.”
When technology is treated as a “replacement”—for judgment, meaning, relationship, or moral discernment—this moves toward the idolatry pattern described in the Catechism: a creature honored as lord.
Pope Francis (in a talk on AI and the digital epoch) warns that algorithms can control habits and dull freedom:
“From digital traces… algorithms now extract data that enable mental and relational habits to be controlled… frequently without our knowledge.”
and this asymmetry “dulls critical thought and the conscious exercise of freedom.”
That is not idolatry in a single step, but it describes the conditions under which idolatry becomes easier—when people lose critical thought and freedom and begin to treat the system as a governing reality.
Catholic teaching does not recommend hostility toward technology. It recognizes benefits while insisting on moral discernment.
Pope Francis speaks of the “immense potential” of new technologies and calls them a “gift from God” that can bear good fruits, even while warning about grave dangers.
Pope Francis also emphasizes that authenticity in communication is not determined by technology itself:
“It is not technology which determines whether or not communication is authentic, but rather the human heart and our capacity to use wisely the means at our disposal.”
Pope Leo XIV’s message to builders of AI stresses that innovation has ethical/spiritual weight and must be oriented to dignity and the common good. He connects AI creation to participation in creation:
“technological innovation can be a form of participation in the divine act of creation.”
But because design choices express “a vision of humanity,” builders must cultivate moral discernment.
In other words: the Church’s doctrine rejects the idolizing of technology, while affirming the legitimacy of using and even developing technology under moral guidance.
The Catechism also warns about superstition, which can be related to technology in practice when people treat lawful means as if they had automatic, magical efficacy apart from interior disposition. It defines superstition as deviation of religious feeling and practices, including attributing “magical” importance to certain practices.
“To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance… is to fall into superstition.”
Although this text is explicitly about prayer and sacraments, the doctrinal logic helps: whenever technology (or a tech-related ritual) is treated as if it automatically guarantees outcomes apart from conversion, conscience, and moral agency, it risks slipping from legitimate tool-use into a quasi-religious—superstitious or idolatrous—attitude.
Using the Church’s framework, “technology as substitute for God” typically shows itself when you can answer “yes” to questions like:
In Catholic doctrine, the danger of “technology as a substitute for God” is treated under the broader realities of the First Commandment and idolatry: any creature—including a technological system—must not be honored and revered as ultimate lord, especially where it replaces God-given human faith, conscience, and moral discernment.