Vice President JD Vance surprised many when he revealed that one of the topics he discussed with Pope Leo XIV during their recent meeting in Rome was online dating. The unusual conversation took place after the pope’s inaugural mass on Sunday, May 18, where Vance and the pontiff briefly met and shook hands.
The following day, the two sat down for a private discussion that initially covered serious global issues but quickly turned to the surprising subject of modern dating habits.
Vance told The New York Times that he and Pope Leo XIV talked about how dating apps like Tinder, Hinge, and Bumble are impacting young people’s ability to form real connections. “If you look at basic dating behavior among young people and I think a lot of this is that the dating apps are probably more destructive than we fully appreciate,” Vance said.
This candid conversation revealed Vance’s concerns that technology is making it harder for young men and women to communicate naturally. “Our young men and women just aren’t dating and if they’re not dating, they’re not getting married, they’re not starting families,” he explained.
Their conversation also highlighted how new technologies and global conflicts are reshaping social and political landscapes in profound ways, a point the pope has also recognized. Vance further explained that artificial intelligence might worsen the problem by encouraging isolation through interactions with chatbots instead of real people.
“There’s a level of isolation I think mediated through technology that technology can be a bit of a salve. It can be a bit of a Band-Aid. Maybe it makes you feel less lonely even when you are lonely. But this is where I think AI could be profoundly dark and negative,” he said.
Pope Leo XIV has expressed concerns about how the Catholic Church will respond to the challenges posed by artificial intelligence, likening the situation to the Industrial Revolution during Pope Leo XIII’s time.
In addition to these topics, Vance and the pope also discussed migration and the ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine. Both Vance and Pope Leo XIV noted the serious challenges these crises pose to peace and human dignity worldwide.