the pope<\/a> repeatedly urged political and social leaders to place human dignity at the center of the development and use of artificial intelligence.<\/p>\nSpeaking Sept. 25 at the \u00c9lys\u00e9e Palace in Paris to French President Emmanuel Macron, government officials, civil society leaders and the diplomatic corps, Pope Leo warned against losing humanity amid what he called a \u201cparadise of machines\u201d and said ethical discernment is indispensable if technological progress is to promote integral human development.<\/p>\n
Recent incidents involving unsupervised AI agents have intensified debates over safety measures for increasingly autonomous systems. During the in-flight news conference, Pope Leo noted reports that AI companies were working to introduce \u201cguardrails\u201d and limits into their systems.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no one, however, that says there should be no limits placed and no government regulation,\u201d he said, calling for political leaders, technology companies and civil society to work together to examine \u201cwhat is happening already and what could be down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the roughly 20-minute news conference, Pope Leo also addressed clergy sexual abuse, the rise of far-right political movements in Europe, the war in Ukraine, France\u2019s tradition of strict secularism and the housing crisis affecting many European cities.<\/p>\n
During his visit, Pope Leo met privately with seven people who had suffered sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. Following the meeting, some of the survivors told reporters that the pope had acknowledged the systemic nature of abuse in the Church.<\/p>\n
Asked about those accounts on the flight, Pope Leo said several of the survivors had spoken to him about systemic abuse and acknowledged that some organizations within the Church had, at times, been abusive \u201cas a system.\u201d But he said he preferred to distinguish between those cases and sexual abuse more broadly.<\/p>\n
\u201cSexual abuse is first and foremost a human problem,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen it happens within the Church, it actually has another whole dimension added to it because people\u2019s lives of faith are deeply wounded and sometimes even destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a particular responsibility of the Church to walk with them and to help them seek healing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The pope also responded to a question about the growth of far-right political movements in Germany and their relationship with Christianity.<\/p>\n
Pope Leo said it would be worthwhile to examine whether there is a relationship between the decline in participation in Germany\u2019s Christian churches and the growth of far-right groups, noting that some of those movements have themselves splintered as factions become more extreme.<\/p>\n
He particularly warned about attempts to combine far-right political views with religion, saying Catholic and Protestant leaders in Germany have spoken out against such movements as \u201cnot an authentic expression of Christianity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The values of the Gospel, he said, \u201care not about hatred and division, but about understanding and compassion and accompanying.\u201d<\/p>\n
He expressed hope that people would participate in political life and \u201cmake clear choices for the common good and not for extremist ideas that perhaps will do much more damage than we are even aware of right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain, on our part as a Church, social doctrine of the Church: talking about, teaching about, preaching about what we believe are these life-giving values and not destruction, division and hatred,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Asked about France\u2019s tradition of strict secularism, known as \u201cla\u00efcit\u00e9,\u201d and whether his repeated defense of human life during the trip had crossed the line between religion and politics, Pope Leo said he did not believe it had.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the Church speaks about defending life, when it speaks about questions of social doctrine, we\u2019re not entering into politics, we\u2019re applying the Gospel to people\u2019s lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The pope repeatedly spoke against euthanasia during the trip, including during his visit to Lourdes, as France implements recently approved legislation permitting the practice under certain circumstances.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf that\u2019s politics, I did that, but it was not to get involved in French politics,\u201d Pope Leo told journalists. \u201cIt was to teach what the Church really believes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pope Leo was also asked to clarify comments he made earlier in the trip that countries must have the courage to sacrifice certain positions for the greater good of peace, particularly in relation to Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine.<\/p>\n
He reiterated the Church\u2019s opposition to violence, hatred and an escalating arms race, criticizing the enormous sums spent on weapons while hunger, health, education and other human needs remain unmet. The pope said the Church must continue to encourage negotiations even when diplomatic efforts appear to have little effect.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that the Church has a responsibility to promote these values, continually inviting the leaders of Russia and Ukraine, other countries, to come, to sit down, to dialogue, to look for how to solve problems without continuing these wars that no longer make sense,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot force anyone,\u201d he added. \u201cSometimes it seems that it can be useless, but we are going to keep talking, we are going to keep inviting, we are going to keep announcing the Gospel.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pope also called for greater cooperation among governments, local communities and the Church in confronting housing crises that have made it increasingly difficult for people, particularly young people, to afford homes in major European cities.<\/p>\n
A Spanish journalist asked Pope Leo about the case of Maricarmen Abascal, an 87-year-old woman with a disability who was forcibly removed Sept. 23 from the Madrid apartment where she had lived for more than seven decades.<\/p>\n
Abascal had lived in the apartment since 1956 under Spain\u2019s old system of rent-controlled leases, but subsequent changes to national rental law restricted the inheritance of such contracts. A court ultimately ruled that her decades-old lease had expired.<\/p>\n
Pope Leo said he was unfamiliar with Abascal\u2019s particular case but said situations like hers demonstrate the need to search for \u201cmore just solutions so that these cases don\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it would be a case where the neighbors, the community, the parish, the diocese or the state would have to come together and say: How is it possible for a case like this to happen?\u201d he said. \u201cWhat is the problem in the system that allows the case of an elderly woman with a disability or with some difficulty to be kicked out of her home?\u201d<\/p>\n
The Church speaks both about the throwaway culture and injustice, he said, but the housing crisis requires action from political leaders and public authorities as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany times we react only at the moment of emergency,\u201d he said, \u201cbut we have to see in reality what is the systemic cause of this problem and how to help.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about his future travel plans beyond Latin America in November, and when he might visit Germany, Pope Leo said no date had been set.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only trip definitely planned is World Youth Day in Korea,\u201d he said, which is scheduled for August 2027.<\/p>\n
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