Pope Leo XIV urged political leaders around the world to promote the common good, especially warning about the threat to human dignity that represents artificial intelligence (AI).
The AI ”will certainly be of great help to society, provided that its use does not undermine the identity and dignity of the human person and their fundamental freedoms,” said The Pope this June 21 to legislators from 68 countries gathered in the Vatican for the Jubilee of the rulers.
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“It should not be forgotten that artificial intelligence works as a tool for the good of human beings, not to reduce them, not to replace them,” said León, speaking in English before the international audience.
The Pope has quickly converted the challenge of artificial intelligence into a distinctive issue of his pontificate, highlighting him at a meeting with the Cardinal College two days after his choice, last month.
In their speech to political leaders this Saturday, Leo XIV also urged them to promote the common good in other ways, including “work to overcome the unacceptable disproportion between the immense wealth concentrated in the hands of a few and the poor in the world.” The Pope denounced such inequality as one of the main causes of war.
The Pope stressed the importance of religious freedom and encouraged political leaders to follow the example of Saint Thomas Moro, a martyr of the 16th century for freedom and primacy of consciousness. Moro was executed for refusing to recognize King Henry VIII as the head of the Church in England instead of the Pope.
The Holy Father also recommended the ethical tradition of natural law, whose roots in classical antiquity are prior to Christianity, such as “a point of reference shared in political activity” and “an element that unites all”, regardless of religious belief.
The arguments of natural law have played a prominent role in several recent legal and political debates, on issues such as abortion, euthanasia, religious freedom, same -sex marriage and transgender policies.
The Pope told political leaders that “natural law, which is universally valid apart from and above other more debatible beliefs, constitutes the compass that guides us when legislating and acting, particularly in the delicate and urgent ethical issues that, today more than in the past, concern personal life and privacy.”
Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in CNA.
Francis X. Rocca Francis X. Rocca
Francis X. Rocca is editor of the Vatican for Ewtn News. He has covered the Vatican since 2007, more recently for The Wall Street Journal, where he also reported on global religion. He has written for Time, The Times Literary Supplement and The Atlantic, among other publications. Rocca is the director of the documentary “Voices of the Vatican II: The participants remember the council.”