Cardinals test out virtual reality headsets at new AI-inspired jubilee art exhibit

Vatican City, Nov 14, 2024 / 13:50 pm

Catholic cardinals this week donned virtual reality headsets at the premiere of an innovative art exhibit that opened this week for the 2025 Jubilee Year showcasing contemporary art inspired by artificial intelligence.

The exhibit, titled “Interconnected Hearts: Taiwan Contemporary Art Exhibition 2024,” is hosted at the Republic of China’s Embassy to the Holy See, just steps away from St. Peter’s Square. It features art created by three Taiwanese artists using 3D scanning, virtual reality (VR), machine learning, and AI technologies.

Among the first to try out the VR headsets at the exhibit’s premiere on Nov. 11 was 84-year-old Cardinal Silvano Maria Tomasi, the pope’s special delegate to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, the prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education, described the art exhibition as “intriguing and extremely innovative.”

Using VR headsets by META, Tolentino experienced a piece by Hung Yu Hao, which digitally unites architectural elements from Taiwan and St. Peter’s Square in a shared virtual space. 

“The works that are before our eyes today flow from the creativity of human genius, enhanced by the use of artificial intelligence,” the Portuguese cardinal said.

Taiwan’s embassy to the Holy See sponsored the art exhibit as a testament to Pope Francis’ commitment to examining AI’s ethical implications, both in his message for the World Day for Peace 2024 and in the pope’s speech to the G7 in Puglia.

At the exhibit’s opening, Ambassador Matthew Lee highlighted how Taiwan is “at the vanguard of AI technology with advanced ingenuity and human resources.”

Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te has declared his commitment to transforming Taiwan into an “AI Island.”

The ambassador noted that the exhibit, which will run through Feb. 14, 2025, has been officially added to the jubilee cultural events calendar by the Dicastery for Evangelization.

“The Chinese title of the art exhibition, ‘心信相連,’ expresses that the hearts of the faithful are connected with God, filled with faith to God, and therefore forging an unwavering trust in God,” Lee said.

As the Vatican embraces new technology, the Church remains mindful of AI’s ethical implications. Cardinal Tolentino noted that Pope Franics has described AI’s potential to lead to “a cognitive-industrial revolution. 

Tolentino added that this “new magnificent tool” must “always be at the service of the weakest and most needy and never a tool of domination, domination, and oppression.”

“Only in this way will we humans affirm and strengthen our humanity,” the cardinal said.

A high-tech week for the oldest institution in the world also featured a Vatican collaboration with Microsoft. 

Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith unveiled a 3D digital model of St. Peter’s Basilica, developed using advanced AI, which allows virtual visitors worldwide to explore the basilica’s art and history.

“It is literally one of the most technologically advanced and sophisticated projects of its kind that has ever been pursued,” said Smith, who has been a leading partner in the Vatican’s AI-ethics initiatives. 

The Microsoft president also announced the launch of an educational Minecraft game exploring St. Peter’s Basilica expected in January 2025 and a new immersive in-person exhibition on the terrace of St. Peter’s Basilica for the Catholic Church’s jubilee year.