New pontiff sets out vision, pledging to continue ‘precious legacy of predecessor Pope Francis.
Pope Leo XIV has held his first meeting with the world’s cardinals since his election as the head of the Catholic Church, identifying artificial intelligence (AI) as one of the most crucial issues facing humanity.
Leo, the first American pope, laid out a vision of his papacy at the Vatican on Saturday, telling the cardinals who elected him that AI poses challenges to defending “human dignity, justice and labour” – a view shared with his predecessor, the late Pope Francis.
Explaining his choice of name, the pontiff said he identified with the late Leo XIII, who had defended workers’ rights during his 1878-1903 papacy at the dawn of the industrial age, adding that “social teaching” was now needed in response to the modern-day revolution brought by AI.
The late Pope Francis, who died last month, warned that AI risked turning human relations into mere algorithms and called for an international treaty to regulate it.
Francis warned the Group of Seven industrialised nations last year that AI must remain human-centric, so that decisions about when to use weapons or even less-lethal tools would not fall to machines.
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In his speech, delivered in Italian, Pope Leo made repeated references to Francis and the mourning over his death, saying the late pontiff left a “precious legacy” and signalling that he would continue with his vision.
China controversy
Francis was pope for 12 years and often garnered criticism from conservative cardinals, who said he was watering down the Church’s doctrine on issues such as the inclusion of LGBTQ Catholics and women’s leadership.
Leo, the former US Cardinal Robert Prevost, was a relative unknown on the global stage, before he was elected pontiff, who spent most of his career as a missionary in Peru before serving as a senior Vatican official.
Saturday’s meeting took place in the same small Vatican auditorium where the cardinals had been gathering in the days before the conclave to discuss who should be the next pope.
Czech Cardinal Dominik Duka was cited by the Reuters news agency as saying the situation of Catholics in communist China had been raised as an issue.
The Vatican and China in 2018 signed a controversial deal on the appointment of bishops in the country, which gives Beijing some input into their selection.
Conservatives have attacked the still-secret deal as a sellout, but Duka told Reuters it was necessary to keep dialogue open in places where the Church is oppressed.