Watch live as Pope Leo XIV arrives in Paris for a four-day visit, the first by a pope to France in 18 years. More than a million people are expected on the trip, which will include a visit to the Catholic pilgrimage site of Lourdes.
PARIS (AP) — Pope Leo XIV warned Friday that a “machine paradise” risks harming humanity as he opened his trip to France by asking fundamental questions about what it means to be human in an age of artificial intelligence, a nuclear arms race and other threats to life itself.
Leo raised existential concerns about scientific progress, life and human rights during his keynote speech at President Emmanuel Macron and authorities at the Élysée Palace, then to diplomats and United Nations employees at the headquarters of UNESCO, the United Nations cultural and educational organization.
As wars ravage Europe and the Middle East, he reaffirmed the Vatican’s opposition to nuclear weapons and said the doctrine of nuclear deterrence was “misguided” as it only fueled a new arms race.
“Peace is not a balance of power; it is built day by day through dialogue and justice,” he declared.
AP AUDIO: Pope warns a ‘machine paradise’ could harm humanity as he opens France trip
AP correspondent Charles de Ledesma reports that Pope Leo XIV has landed in Paris, France, for a four-day visit.
Leo spends four intense days in France, where the Catholic Church has lost ground in its influence on ethical issues given the situation. strict approach to secularism this is enshrined in the French Constitution.
However, thousands of people lined up along the procession route, waving French and Holy See flags, braving a few hours of unusual heat to catch a glimpse of him. The participation rate highlighted surprising level of interest during Leon’s visit, the first official state visit by a pope to France in 18 years.
“Seeing him pray with us, it comforts us in our faith and on our journey,” said Senegalese Sister Antonia Faye, beaming after her first-ever event with a pope, an evening prayer service at Notre-Dame that featured angelic choirs and the cathedral’s resounding organ.
“Being with the pope is different from being alone or praying alone. We felt the blessing that fell on us,” she said.
A closing visit at the end of Macron’s mandate
For Macron, who is barred from running for a third term in May’s elections, welcoming the American pope is something of a cornerstone. Pope Francis had repeatedly refused to make a proper state visit to France during his 12-year pontificate and had flatly refused to join the inauguration of the rebuilt Notre-Dame Cathedral in 2024, championed by Macron.
“For a President of the Republic like Macron, who is at the end of his mandate, it can be important to be away from the Pope and to capture part of his popularity,” estimates Charles Mercier, director of the history and sociology of Catholic studies at Paris EPHE University.
Seven months into his term, Macron’s popularity rating is near an all-time low, driven by anger over the rising cost of living and criticism of France’s growing debt and deficit and deteriorating public services.
Smiling broadly as Leon spoke French, Macron thanked the pope for his visit, saying: “You are here with us for an extended visit, you are giving us your time, and it is moving. »
Leo calls on the French to think about the noble questions about life
Unlike Francis, who loved traveling to small Catholic communities far from Rome, Leo was keen to highlight and reawaken the Christian roots of Europe. It seeks to convey the Church’s message about the value and dignity of human life in a country where the right to abortion was enshrined in the constitution in 2024 and where lawmakers recently gave final approval to a bill allowing adults with incurable illnesses to receive lethal drugs.
The French Catholic hierarchy strongly opposed these measures, in line with Catholic teaching that human life must be protected and defended from conception until natural death.
In his speech to Macron and other government and diplomatic officials, Leo reminded France of its “deep Christian roots” and called on the French to remember that the right to life is the “indispensable foundation of all other human rights.”
His concern about the dignity of human life and humanity as a whole extended to the threats posed by artificial intelligence.
“The paradox has become increasingly evident: while ‘intelligence’ is attributed to computer systems, we struggle to recognize the inalienable dignity of human persons, whose lives are judged by the criterion of efficiency and, when judged to be no longer productive, are rejected and discarded,” he said.
From the start of his pontificate, Leo identified AI as one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. He dedicated his first encyclical to the theme “Magnificent Humanity,” calling for robust regulation and for AI developers to work for the common good rather than profit.
Leo also called on AI developers and the political leaders responsible for regulating them to slow down, a call that several major AI companies appear to have recently taken to heart.
“If we want to avoid losing our humanity in the midst of a “machine paradise” invading and conditioning our daily lives, it is urgent to educate in ethical discernment and the ability to recognize moral good,” he said.
Leo previously told reporters he was happy his message was being heard and that he hoped the Vatican’s dialogue with tech companies would continue.
“And I think from their perspective, many of them are very open to looking at ways to ensure that AI is not displacing or destroying humanity, but rather is a tool for human beings,” he said.
A visit to Notre-Dame that Francis refused
Later Friday, Leon led evening prayers at Paris’ imposing Notre-Dame Cathedral, the first pope to worship there since the devastating 2019 fire that consumed the cathedral’s roof and toppled its spire.
After being mobbed by a crowd of enthusiastic nuns outside, Leo walked down the center aisle to the combined sound of thunder from the organ above and cheers from the pews below. As the bells rang, he knelt in silent prayer in the same spot where, in 2019, flames brought down the scorched roof beams.
Leo marveled at the brilliance of the restored stained glass windows and cream-colored columns and praised the craftsmen who repaired them. He urged the priests and nuns gathered in the pews to be inspired by joint efforts to bring this Gothic masterpiece back to life.
Francis had refused to go to France on a proper state visit and explicitly declined Macron’s invitation to come for the 2024 reopening of the cathedral that has attracted dozens of world leaders.
He did, however, make three short stays in French cities, including Strasbourg in 2014 and Marseille and Corsica in 2024, a one-day visit that became his final trip abroad.
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives AP support collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Gn headline
