The Vatican is welcoming more than a thousand social media influencers to Rome this week for an event intended to shape a new generation of Catholic missionaries.

Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday received a rock star's welcome at the Vatican's festival of Catholic influencers — priests, nuns and ordinary faithful who use their social media presence to preach and teach the faith — as he urged them to ensure that human relations don’t suffer with the spread of digital ecosystems and artificial intelligence.

While riding in the Popemobile ahead of his weekly General Audience at the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV receives a surprise box from a hometown pizzeria.