AI the councillor

Those who visit St Peter’s chapel in Lucerne, the oldest church in Switzerland, can now seek the help of AI.

‘Sitting’ in the confessional there is an AI device. Visitors can enter the confessional and ask questions about faith. Their questions will be answered in a second.

The project is the result of the combined efforts of the resident theologian, Marco Schmid, together with the Immersive Realities Research Lab at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts.

The “Deus ex machina” programme gives users the experience of a “conversation” with a computer-generated image of Jesus. Answers about faith are given but no absolution from sins is imparted.

Mary’s fruitfulness

In his homily on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Pope Francis said: “What is the use of having a full bank account, a comfortable home, unreal virtual relationships, if our hearts remain cold, empty and closed? What is the use of achieving great financial growth in privileged countries if half the world is starving or ravaged by war, and the others look on with indifference?

The Immaculate Virgin is beautiful in her fruitfulness since she recognises that she must die to herself in order to give life, forget herself in order to care for the poor and vulnerable who turn to her.”

Extraordinary time in human history

Fr Roberto Pasolini, the new preacher of the papal household, in his first Advent sermon to Pope Francis and the Roman Curia, said that “history, though influenced by its legacies, is always capable of transcending itself and opening to new possibilities when God acts”. He added that “at times, it is necessary to interrupt the flow of events to open oneself to God’s newness”.

“Today more than ever, in an extraordinary time in human history, we need to recover this kind of spiritual perspective on reality” in which “alongside grave injustices, wars and violence afflicting every corner of the world, new discoveries and promising paths of liberation are emerging”.

(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)