By Sam Aitchison
The Church is Alive!
An article and research study of 50,000 people reported by Forbes in 2025 found that nearly 80% of people in the United States experience loneliness. In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General declared loneliness a national epidemic, citing research suggesting that chronic loneliness can be as harmful as one’s health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. More recently, Replika AI (Artificial Intelligence), a chatbot that claims to be your friend, has been downloaded over 30 million times.
When I heard these statistics shared at a campus ministry presentation on the importance of community, I was taken aback.
I knew, at least in a general sense, that we as a country are becoming more socially isolated. But turning to AI chatbots for friendship? People in the room scoffed when this statistic was mentioned, including myself. Yet this isn’t some distant or niche issue. Thirty million people have already turned to an AI chatbot for companionship. Sitting there, I felt a sense of concern. Loneliness isn’t just a challenge we’ve always faced — it seems to be intensifying, and this is seriously disturbing.
During his pontificate, Pope Francis said that “We are not living in an era of change but a change of era.” By this, he seems to be naming the massive technological, social, and cultural shifts shaping our world today — and inviting us to pay attention to them. Our current Pope, Leo XIV, took his papal namesake for a reason. Pope Leo XIII led the Church during the Industrial Revolution, a time when rapid technological and economic change often came at the expense of human dignity. In response, he issued the encyclical “Rerum Novarum” (“On Capital and Labor”), which affirmed that economic and political life must be ordered to promote the dignity of the human person and the common good.
The Church has long stood slightly outside the world. Not to retreat from or avoid it, but to engage it honestly and critically, and to meet people where they are in history. To me, the name Leo seems symbolic and strategic. It signals we’re undergoing major technological shifts, and the Church will play an important role in speaking up for human dignity.
Taken together, the statistics on loneliness and the Church’s symbolism and rhetoric are a wake-up call. Not a call to have all the answers, but a call to responsibility. Most of us won’t change laws, influence thousands of people, or have a public platform. Still, I believe we can each do something to affirm one another’s dignity and work towards a more just and connected world.
As the campus ministry presentation came to a close, a few practical suggestions were shared that resonated strongly with me:
As a people of faith, we’re called to respond to our culture in light of Christ’s teaching. This can look like fostering authentic community in our parish spaces, checking on and including those left out or overlooked, and being willing to accompany one another. Likewise, it also means being honest about our own struggles and allowing others to support us in both joyful and difficult seasons of life.
We can advocate for stronger safeguards around social media, especially for young people. Promoting phone-free environments in elementary, middle, and high school can help youth establish real relationships. Countries such as Australia, and more recently Spain, have begun banning social media for those under 16, offering a possible model to prioritize connection and safety.
On a more personal level, we can try to look people in the eye and give them our full attention, even when we’re busy. This is something I’m trying to improve the most.
These small actions we can undertake orient ourselves toward Christ. They affirm the worth of others as sons and daughters of Christ, no matter who they are, where they’re from, or what they’ve done. They remind us that we’re created for community, to be truly alive as God intended.
At Saint Louis University, I’m studying business and theology. In my business classes, I’m using and learning AI in the classroom daily. I believe AI has the incredible potential to revolutionize fields such as medicine and to address large-scale challenges such as food insecurity and homelessness. The Church affirms technology as a wonderful gift from God, but a gift that needs to be prudently developed and used.
As people of faith, we’re called to respond to the needs of our communities and our world, and to lean on others when we ourselves are struggling. As we enter the season of Lent, I find myself asking: how can I keep the needs of the world in mind during this time? How can I practice vulnerability and presence with others when life becomes difficult?
Sources:
Over 80% of Adults In The U.S. Experience Loneliness, Study Finds (Forbes)
Loneliness Statistics 2026: 58% of Americans Feel Invisible — Who’s Struggling Most (Science of People)
Spain Aims to Ban Social Media for Children Under 16 — The New York Times (New York Times)
Blessings, pastoral conversion, and the risk of wanting to codify everything — (Vatican News)
(Sam Aitchison is a senior at Saint Louis University studying business and theology. He can be reached at samaitchison6@gmail.com.)
