Young Orthodox Christians take part in a lights procession in Romania’s capital

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Thousands of young Orthodox Christians gathered in Romania’s capital for a candlelit procession that illuminated a trail from the giant National Cathedral to Patriarchate Hill, a historic site considered sacred to Romanian Orthodoxy.

The Procession of Lights was part of a four-day program for the eighth edition of the International Meeting of Orthodox Youth in Bucharest. The annual gathering brings together 2,400 people aged 16 to 35, many from Romania and its diaspora and other Orthodox churches.

Pilgrims from dozens of countries carried candles and flags through Bucharest's streets as they made their way to Patriarchate Hill, home to the headquarters of the Romanian Patriarchate, and the Patriarchal Residence and Cathedral.

Romania is one of the most pious countries in the European Union, with around 85% of the population identifying as religious. The Romanian Orthodox Church is a powerful institution that plays a central role in many people’s lives.

In his opening speech Tuesday, Patriarch Daniel said the gathering provides “a concrete opportunity to intensify the mission of young people in the life of the Church today” in what he described as a “rapidly secularizing society.”

“The young Orthodox Christian is a blessing to his family, a model for other young people and a missionary in the life of the Church,” he said. “Being young in the Church means above all having the desire and courage to testify to eternal Christian values ​​in a world fascinated by ephemeral models and values.”

The theme of this year’s edition, “Young people, Family and Life in Christ,” is relevant because “today’s young generation faces specific challenges,” some of which the organizers described on their website as technological hyperconnectivity, loneliness, a lack of role models and the search for the meaning of life.

“The church is a young people’s place where they can find refuge and solace,” Paula Pantea, a 24-year-old attendee, told The Associated Press. “They can find … friends that came to share the same thought: the young people are not alone in the Church, and the Church is here for them.”

The Procession of Lights on Wednesday began at the People’s Salvation Cathedral, known as the National Cathedral, which is the world’s largest Christian Orthodox church. The cathedral opened last year after 15 years of construction and has an inner capacity for 5,000 worshippers. The Romanian Orthodox Church has called the cathedral “a symbol of national identity.”

Adrian Agachi, a priest and press office coordinator for the Romanian Patriarchy, said that attendees — who he said came from 40 countries — will join Orthodox believers from all over Romania on Thursday for a holy liturgy at the National Cathedral.

McGrath reported from Leamington Spa, England.

People hold candles standing outside the Patriarchal Cathedral at the end of the Procession of Lights, part of a four-day program of the International Meeting of Orthodox Youth (ITO), in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

A young woman wearing a traditional outfit gestures backdropped by a religious icon before the Procession of Lights, part of a four-day program of the International Meeting of Orthodox Youth (ITO), in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

A child rides a bicycle next to priests leading the Procession of Lights, part of a four-day program of the International Meeting of Orthodox Youth (ITO), in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

The National Cathedral is reflected in a puddle as youth gather for the Procession of Lights, part of a four-day program of the International Meeting of Orthodox Youth (ITO), in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

Youngsters wearing traditional outfits pose backdropped by the National Cathedral before the Procession of Lights, part of a four-day program of the International Meeting of Orthodox Youth (ITO), in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

Computer chip company Nvidia is buying artificial intelligence software platform Hugging Face for $12.93 billion.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang wrote in a blog post Thursday that more than 18 million developers, researchers and creators use Hugging Face to share more than 3 million models, 500,000 data sets and 1 million applications. There's also more than 200,000 companies that use the platform, he said.

In July, ChatGPT maker OpenAI said that its artificial intelligence system hacked into the data processing systems of Hugging Face, which suspected it was an AI agent autonomously acting on its own.

Nvidia will keep Hugging Face as an open platform.

“Hugging Face will remain an open platform for the entire AI ecosystem. Developers will choose the models they want, the frameworks they want, the clouds and inference service providers they want and the computing platforms they want,” Huang wrote. “Nvidia compute will not be required to build on or deploy through Hugging Face.”

Hugging Face will still support open source and open weight models as well as multi-cloud and multi-accelerator development and deployment.

Nvidia has released more than 500 models on Hugging Face and more than 250 open datasets.

Nvidia's high-end chips have emerged as AI’s best building blocks and the Santa Clara, California-based company's quarterly results regularly blow past Wall Street's expectations.

While AI has powered stock market gains and U.S. economic growth in recent years, there’s been growing skepticism about whether AI will justify the trillions of dollars that are being spent to develop the technology.

The AI industry is also increasingly facing pushback amid objections to the expansion in data centers and fears that the speed with which AI is being adopted could lead to widespread job losses for many Americans.

Nvidia's stock rose slightly before the market open.

FILE - Jensen Huang, president and CEO of Nvidia, waits for a groundbreaking ceremony for an expansion of Coherent's manufacturing facility to begin on June 16, 2026, in Sherman, Texas. (AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter, File)