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.

Aboard the popemobile, the Pontiff toured the colorful esplanade, warmly and enthusiastically greeting the hundreds of thousands of young pilgrims waving the flags of numerous countries.