> But I still don't see why the answer is to pray rather than exhort people to do something about it.

Asking people to pray is asking them to do something about it.

Not just in the trivial sense that prayer is an action (though that too), or that the specific prayer is asking God to do something (though, again, that too), but more deeply in the sense that prayer is, in Catholic thought, not a onidirectional communication but a dialogue, and praying for an intention is the beginning of discernment of what, if anything, God wants the praying person to do to serve others and make God’s will manifest in the area prayed for.

As for why he isn't exhorting more specific action, that's not what the venue of this call (the Worldwide Prayer Network) is for. The issues raised in that venue are often ones on which the Pope advocates more specific responses in other venues, though.

Praying doesn't exclude a more "physical" action. When a catholic is praying for something, they should actively pursue the goal. The New Testament (James 2:14-26) states it explicitly. "Faith without deeds is dead" - praying is just one of many things people can do, sometimes the only thing.

Because most people can't exhort people to do anything about it. Don't quote me, but I imagine the majority of Pope Francis's followers are in third world or developing nations. Praying is all they can do to help.

That doesn't mean that Pope Francis shouldn't do something more concrete, and from the looks of this article, it seems like he's trying to.

> Earlier this year, the Vatican, along with Microsoft and IBM, endorsed the “Rome Call for AI Ethics” — a policy document containing six general principles that guide the deployment of artificial intelligence.

From a secular perspective, prayer is a way to align our conscious with our subconscious. The higher and lower order desires. The logical with the emotional. Prayer changes the world by changing the prayer.