PARIS, September 25 — Pope Leo XIV used his first visit to France as pontiff to warn that a “paradise of machines” risks undermining human dignity, delivering the caution during a trip that combined a state visit with a pilgrimage to Lourdes. The pope, elected in 2025 as the first American-born pontiff in the church’s history, took the name Leo XIV and has made artificial intelligence a signature theme of his early papacy.
He chose “Artificial Intelligence and Peace” as the theme of the Catholic Church’s World Day of Peace for 2025.
At the Élysée, a warning on technology and human values
In Paris, the pope met with President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace and addressed French political and cultural leaders. He used the platform to argue that technological progress must remain subordinate to human values. His message stressed that machines must not replace human relationships, and that technological systems should serve the common good rather than concentrate power.
The Vatican has not released the full text of every address, but the pope’s public remarks in France were widely reported and focused on the theme of humanity in an age of machines.
Lourdes, and a line of papal visits
The trip also included a stop at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in southwestern France, a major Catholic pilgrimage site visited by millions each year. There the pope prayed with the sick and delivered a homily. The France visit follows the tradition of papal trips to the country, which include Pope John Paul II’s 1983 pilgrimage to Lourdes and Pope Benedict XVI’s 2008 visit.
Leo’s warnings on AI echo earlier Vatican engagement with the issue. In 2020, IBM and Microsoft signed the “Rome Call for AI Ethics.” In 2024, Pope Francis addressed the G7 summit in Apulia, Italy, on AI risks.
The visit drew attention to the Catholic Church’s role in shaping global ethical debates as AI accelerates, with the pope positioning the church as a moral voice. The trip’s timing and the pope’s remarks underscore ongoing tensions between rapid technological advancement and concerns about its impact on society, labor, and human meaning. The visit is part of Pope Leo’s broader effort to engage with contemporary issues while leading the world’s approximately 1.4 billion Catholics.
