{"id":627664,"date":"2026-09-26T01:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T01:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/627664\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T01:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T01:50:10","slug":"pope-leo-xiv-warns-ai-could-undermine-humanity-during-france-visit-religion-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/627664\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo XIV warns AI could undermine humanity during France visit | Religion News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thousands gather in Paris as the pope warns against a \u2018paradise of machines\u2019 at the Elysee Palace.<\/p>\n

Published On 25 Sep 202625 Sep 2026<\/p>\n

Pope Leo XIV has warned that artificial intelligence, which he referred to as a \u201cparadise of machines\u201d, and other emerging technologies could undermine humanity by posing fundamental questions about what it means to be human.<\/p>\n

Thousands gathered to welcome the pope in France on Friday, shortly after he raised existential questions about technological advancement and human rights during his opening speech to President Emmanuel Macron and authorities at the Elysee Palace and then to diplomats and United Nations employees at the headquarters of UNESCO, the UN culture and education organisation.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf we are to avoid losing our humanity amid a paradise of machines invading and conditioning our daily lives, there is an urgent need for education in ethical discernment,\u201d Pope Leo said beside Macron.<\/p>\n

Scientific progress should not turn \u201cinto profit-driven ventures promoting genetic manipulation, surrogacy, the trade in human organs or the possibility of arranging one\u2019s own death\u201d, the pope said, a few months after France passed<\/a> a landmark bill legalising assisted dying.<\/p>\n

\"epa13262880Pope Leo XIV visits the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France, on September 25, 2026 [Gregorio Borgia\/Pool\/EPA]<\/p>\n

He reaffirmed the Vatican\u2019s opposition to nuclear weapons, stating that the nuclear deterrence doctrine was \u201cmistaken\u201d as it was heightening a new arms race.<\/p>\n

The pope identified<\/a> AI as one of the greatest challenges currently facing humanity since the very beginning of his pontificate, dedicating his first encyclical to the topic to call for significant regulation and for developers to work for the common good.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe paradox has become increasingly evident: while \u2018intelligence\u2019 is attributed to computational systems, we struggle to recognise the inalienable dignity of human persons, whose lives are judged according to the criterion of efficiency and, when deemed no longer productive, are rejected and discarded,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The pope had earlier told reporters that he was pleased that his message was being heard by AI developers and hoped the dialogue would continue between tech companies and the Vatican.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think from their perspective, many of them, they\u2019re very much open to looking for ways of making sure that AI does not displace or ultimately destroy humanity, but rather is a tool for human beings,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"TOPSHOTPope Leo XIV greets worshippers from the Papamobile (popemobile) at the Stade de France stadium in Saint-Denis, on the outskirts of Paris, on September 25, 2026 [AFP]<\/p>\n

The pope\u2019s four-day trip marks the first official papal visit to France in 18 years. While secularism is enshrined in the country\u2019s constitution, the pontiff stressed that \u201cauthentic secularity\u201d should not exclude religion \u201cfrom the public sphere or from education\u201d.<\/p>\n

Thousands of worshippers cheered Leo on Friday as he stepped up to pray and called those gathered at a stadium near Paris the \u201csaints of France\u201d. Earlier in the afternoon, the pope crossed central Paris in his popemobile.<\/p>\n

The Vatican estimated that about 300,000 people had come out to see the pontiff on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands gather in Paris as the pope warns against a \u2018paradise of machines\u2019 at the Elysee Palace. Published…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[345,343,344,63,2226,85,46,43,7319,4855,125,43311],"class_list":["post-627664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-europe","tag-france","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-religion","tag-science-and-technology","tag-technology","tag-vatican"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}