VATICAN CITY: Tens of thousands of young Catholics from all over the world gathered on Tuesday in Rome for a week of pilgrimage during the Vatican`s Jubilee of Youth an event that takes place every 25 years.

The mass gathering is taking place just over two months after Leo XIV became the head of the Catholic Church and the first American pope.

Since Monday, groups of pilgrims chanting and draped in flags of their countries have flooded the streets of Italy`s capital and the corners of the Vatican City.

An opening mass was held at St Peter`s Basilica in the evening. The Vatican had last week said it expected some half a million people from more than 150 countries to take part in the youth events that are dedicated to faithand culture. The week will culminate with a giant mass led by Pope Leo on Sunday.

The Jubilee of Youth is aimed at young people aged between 18 and 35.

Pilgrims said topics they most wanted to discuss at the events were wars, climate change, social inequalities and the dangers linked to AI.

`The most important topic for me is war.

Everyone is talking about it, thinking about it, and we want to know what the pope thinks about it and what he expects from us, 25-year-old Tiago Santos, a pilgrim from Portugal, said.

The event is taking place as tens of thousands have been killed in Gaza after almost two years of conflict with Israel and as UN groups warn of spreading starvation in the blocked territory.

In Ukraine, Russia`salmost 3.5-year invasion has killed thousands, with Moscow continuing deadly attacks despite Western pressure to end its campaign.

For Teophanie Nasta, a 26-year-old Lebanese pilgrim who left her country for the first time, said that despite the conflicts in the Middle East shewas filled with `faith in humanity by seeing so many young people` gatheredforthe church.

In an unprecedented move, the Vatican decided to dedicated a series of events to Catholic influencers a sign of growing importance of social media for the church.

Speaking to them onTuesday morning, Pope Leo warned against the dangers of undermining `human dignity` in the AI era.

Human `dignity` Pope Leo XVI on Tuesday called on the world to protect human `dignity` online as it faces the `challenge` of AI, at the Vatican`s first mass for Catholic influencers.

He was speaking as thousands of young Catholics are in Rome this week for the Vatican`s Jubilee of Youth an event that takes place every 25 years and as the Catholic Church tries to promote its message online amid a fall in church attendance.

`Nothing that comes from man and his creativity should be used to undermine the dignity of others,` Leo told young Catholic social media fig-ures at a mass in St Peter`s Basilica.

He called on the world to protect `our ability to listen and speak` in the `new era` of artificial intelligence.

The Vatican is holding a two-day event bringing together what it calls `digital missionaries and Catholic influencers` from around the world in a bid to promote its presence online. It is the first time the centuries-old institution holds such an event.

He also called on Catholic social media influencers to convince others to create content that will `entail seeking out those who suffer and need to know the Lord.

Since taking over the papacy in May, the pope an American mathematics graduate has repeatedly warned about the dangers of AI for young people.-AFP