\u201cpope rallies\u201d in 15 Philadelphia-area Catholic high schools<\/a> plus grade schools, along with millions of people around the world via broadcast and digital media.<\/p>\nEWTN along with Vatican Media produced the live digital encounter dubbed \u201cPope Leo Live: A Call to Unity and Peace!\u201d<\/p>\n
The morning had a touch of Philadelphia as Archbishop Nelson J. P\u00e9rez prayed with those in the stadium then introduced Pope Leo, and later concluded the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cFill our hearts with your heavenly fruits, love, patience, peace, faithfulness, generosity,\u201d Archbishop P\u00e9rez said in prayer over the gathered young people, \u201cthat we may submit ourselves to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have no words to share our gratitude within our hearts for you being present with us,\u201d he told the pope amidst a couple calls of \u201cLet\u2019s Go Birds!\u201d from the assembled 14- to 18-year-olds and their adult leaders.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thank you for this first digital visit to the United States,\u201d the archbishop added. \u201cWe hope you will help us by visiting us personally soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pope Leo\u2019s visit via video technology included questions the teens posed about responsible use of technology, their Catholic faith, and their spiritual health.<\/p>\n
\u201cI often find myself sitting on my phone and largely scrolling,\u201d Chris Pantelakis, a teenager from the Archdiocese of Las Vegas, admitted. \u201cEveryone around me is the same or has a very similar problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTechnology can really help us in many ways, and it can help us live our Christian faith,\u201d Pope Leo replied from Rome, some 4,800 miles from his family\u2019s roots in Chicago. \u201cIt helps us stay connected with people far away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Technology, however, \u201ccan never replace real in-person relationships,\u201d he said, pointing out the necessity of \u201csimple things (such as) a hug, a handshake, a smile. All those things are essential to being human,\u201d he added, citing recently canonized St. Carlo Acutis as an example for young people to follow.<\/p>\n
Micah Alciso from the Diocese of Honolulu shared questions of reliance on artificial intelligence and ChatGPT, and how best to use those tools for finding solutions to problems.<\/p>\n
\u201cFilters, guidelines, can help you but they cannot make choices for you. Only you can do that,\u201d Pope Leo responded.<\/p>\n
\u201cAI cannot replace human intelligence. Don\u2019t ask it to do your homework for you. It cannot offer real wisdom. AI will not judge what is truly right and wrong. It will not stand in authentic wonder at the beauty of God\u2019s creation.\u201d<\/p>\n
There were plenty of moments of fun and levity. When co-presenter Katie Prejean McGrady asked Pope Leo near the beginning about aspects of his wardrobe and socks that she gave him, he responded in allusion to his favorite Chicago baseball team, \u201cI only wear White Sox.\u201d<\/p>\n
Archbishop P\u00e9rez also wrapped up the Holy Father\u2019s conversation by leading the assembled crowd in the chant \u201cLeo! Leo! We Love Leo!\u201d which was delivered to the same beat \u00a0of a longtime ode to the Chicago White Sox<\/p>\n
Young people took the in-between time to offer more serious questions, to which the Holy Father replied with compassion.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my experience, it\u2019s been difficult to voice my mistakes. Is it hard for you to accept God\u2019s mercy when you\u2019ve made mistakes or let people down?\u201d asked Mia Smothers of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.<\/p>\n
Pope Leo XIV cited the Gospel story of the Prodigal Son and Pope Francis\u2019 \u00a0reminder that God never tires of forgiving people, even when we get tired of asking for forgiveness.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook to Jesus. Trust his mercy. Go to him with confidence,\u201d Pope Leo reminded the assembled young people with extra encouragement to turn toward the sacrament of penance and reconciliation. \u201cHe will always welcome you home.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c\u201dI see my peers and even myself struggle with our faith. There are moments when a lot of us feel sad and overwhelmed,\u201d said Ezekiel Ponce from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. \u201cFriends and family often say, \u2018Give my problems to the Lord.\u2019 How can I give my problems, even when I feel like this?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c(God) knows when life feels heavy,\u201d Pope Leo said in reply. \u201cScripture reminds us that He is near to the broken hearted, even when we do not feel His presence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to spend time with Him in prayer. We have to have a relationship with Him. In quiet, we can speak honestly about what is in our hearts. In eucharistic adoration, you can look at Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. He looks at you with love. He looks to us gently.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elise Wing from the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Iowa asked about the Church\u2019s pathway forward in the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can we as young people make sure we are part of the conversation about the future?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n
With kind and enthusiastic reassurance, Pope Leo responded that when one faces challenges or worries about the future, \u201cit might be good to remember the promise that Jesus once made to Peter when He said, \u2018The gates of hell will not prevail against the Church.\u2019 Jesus will always protect and guide His Church.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are not only the future of the Church, you are the present,\u201d the pope told the youths. \u201cYour voices, your ideas, your faith matter right now. The Church needs you. The Church needs what you have been given to share with all of us. If you want to help the Church prepare for the future, be involved today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pope Leo took the final minutes after the teens\u2019 questions to give honor to young people, further encouraging them to discern what they bring to the world by forming stronger connections and building the peace the world needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou carry (Christ\u2019s) presence into the world: joy, hope, with creativity,\u201d the pope said. \u201cJesus also calls His disciples to be peacemakers, people who build bridges instead of walls. People who value dialogue and unity instead of division.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pope Leo\u2019s quotation from the Gospel of St. Matthew, shared in the middle of the gathering, perhaps summed up how technology made possible a powerful moment of young Americans encountering the pontiff for the first time through a technology-driven question and answer session.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen two or more gather in (Jesus\u2019) name,\u201d Pope Leo said, \u201cHe is with them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Jay Sorgi \u2022 Posted November 26, 2025 Pope Leo XIV spoke live and directly with young Americans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[8364,20549,69,71,70,1841],"class_list":{"0":"post-45883","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-jay-sorgi","9":"tag-ncyc","10":"tag-philadelphia","11":"tag-philadelphia-headlines","12":"tag-philadelphia-news","13":"tag-pope-leo-xiv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}