Pope Leo XIV celebrated his 71st birthday with a visit to the Vatican Apostolic Library, while also turning the Church’s attention toward human dignity in the technological age and the witness of Christians who have given their lives for Christ.
On Relevant in Rome, Rome Correspondent Ashley Noronha explained that the Holy Father marked his birthday by inaugurating a new art exhibition at the Apostolic Library titled Water: Catastrophe and Wonder. The exhibition explores water both as a source of life and as a force capable of destruction, connecting with Pope Leo’s September prayer intention concerning access to clean water.
The visit was Pope Leo’s first official trip to the Apostolic Library since his election in 2025. He described the library as a kind of beating heart, gathering the intellectual treasures of humanity while making them available for the service of others. The occasion also had a personal connection for the Holy Father, whose mother worked as a librarian.
Pope Leo continued his focus on the human person during his Wednesday General Audience, reflecting on Gaudium et Spes, the Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World.
While modern technology, social media and artificial intelligence offer new possibilities for humanity, the Pope warned against allowing them to weaken genuine human relationships or replace responsibilities that properly belong to the human conscience.
Ashley summarized the Holy Father’s teaching with several important questions Catholics can ask when evaluating technological developments: Do they strengthen or weaken human communion? Do they respect the dignity and responsibility of the human person? Do they help form and protect the conscience?
Technology itself is not the enemy. The concern arises when tools intended to serve the human person begin to displace him. Pope Leo emphasized that the future of humanity is not merely something that happens to us. Each person has a responsibility to cooperate with God and with others in building a more humane world.
The Holy Father also met with participants in a Vatican conference focused on Christian witnesses who have died for their faith in the 21st century.
The Vatican’s Commission for New Martyrs has documented more than 1,700 Christians who have died as witnesses to Christ since the beginning of the century. The list includes Catholics as well as members of other Christian communities, and inclusion does not mean that each person has formally been declared a martyr by the Catholic Church.
Ashley explained that the effort seeks to preserve the memory of Christians whose fidelity to Christ has endured even amid persecution, violence and death.
Pope Leo described these witnesses as lights amid a world darkened by selfishness and oppression. Their example reminds the faithful that holiness is not confined to centuries past. Christians are still being called today to remain faithful to Christ, even at great personal cost.