South Korean priests undergo AI training

Library in Starfield Shopping Mall, Suwon, South Korea. / Credit: Jpbarrass, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 17, 2025 / 07:30 am (CNA).

“I believe that artificial intelligence will become an essential technology for preaching or pastoral care of the faithful,” said Fr. Ignazio Son Chang-hyun, one of the priests who participated in a recent innovative training organized by the Diocese of Suwon, South Korea.

According to Asia News, earlier this month the South Korean diocese brought together priests from the cities of Suwon, Daegu, and Masan to learn about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in parish life.

Unlike other meetings focused on ethics, this training sought to explore the practical opportunities that AI offers for evangelization and care of the faithful.

“Since it is a hot topic at the moment and its areas of application are expanding, we have prepared training for priests to learn skills that can be used in the pastoral field,” explained Father Lee Cheol-gu, director of the Office of Social Communications of the Diocese of Suwon, the event’s sponsor.

During the event, held in collaboration with a company specializing in AI literacy, priests learned how to use tools such as ChatGPT and other generative platforms to create images, presentations, videos, and even background music for their parish activities. They also experimented with a chatbot that can automatically take meeting minutes.

For Father Son Chang-hyun, this technology can not only assist with administrative tasks, but could go further in its application. “I think that if we could better understand the trends and moods of the faithful, which change from place to place, through data analysis, we could get closer to them in pastoral terms,” he said.

Father Bartolomeo Choi Jae-yong, another participant, emphasized the importance of integrating faith and science: “I believe that religion and science must be well harmonized in order for God’s new work to be accomplished.”

Speaking with Asia News, he added that religion “must actively learn and understand science and technology in order to prevent abuses related to their use.”

Another goal of this initiative is to build bridges between the Church and technology companies, in order to improve the content of tools that use AI.

“I have noticed that Catholic and Protestant terminology are often confused and that there is a lot of misinformation about the saints. I therefore thought it necessary for the Church to collaborate with companies to improve these aspects,” said Father Leone Lee Jae-geun, deputy director of the Office of Social Communications.

In a country like South Korea, a world leader in technology, the local Church has taken this significant step to evangelize in the digital world as well. According to the participating priests, this experience could become a model for other dioceses around the world seeking to integrate technological innovation in the service of the Gospel.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.