On September 1st, 2025, Pope Leo gave a short message to representatives of the charitable organization St. Francis' Work for the Poor (founded by Venerable Cecilio Maria Cortinovis, a Capuchin friar, another humble porter), that has been providing food, clothing, and medicine to about 30,000 people a year for the past seventy years in Milan. To focus on who the message was addressed to, is not my intention here. Rather, I want to focus on a single line that the Pope said, quoting and praising St. Francis of Assisi.
“...it is good to remember some of St. Francis' words regarding the poor,” said Pope Leo: “When thou sees a poor man", said the saint of Assisi, "a mirror is set before thee of the Lord, and of His Mother in her poverty.”
“Poor, humble and crucified Christ” has been the constant watchword in the Franciscan spirituality. For centuries, this image of Christ and of his Mother remained in the heart of the Church. However, in these days, I'm afraid, such an image has been totally lost! How many images and videos of Christ and his Mother, created by artificial intelligence we get to see on social media everyday! It seems that the only image of the Christ left these days is that of an emperor. Even the very idea that Jesus was a person with dark complexion would trigger uneasiness in many people today! Every day, I see that Mother Mary being portrayed with more and more whiteness, with a charm and beauty that would outshine any beauty queen, and in exquisite dress!
As soon as I get these sent to me, I delete them with a fear, wondering where we are heading to!
Therefore, the AI created Christ-Mary imagery of these days are obscene, belittling not only of the real Jesus and his mother, but also of the millions of poor people across the world who have mind, marrow, flesh, soul, and self-respect, who are made invisible not only in the world's media, in the glossy magazines meant for the coffee tables of the rich, and even from most of the film industry!
