Picture: Pope Leo XIV
From The Nijasun News Desk
Pope Leo XIV has sounded a strong warning over the growing influence of artificial intelligence, cautioning that technology must never be allowed to erode the family or diminish human dignity.
The Pope, Vatican News reports, gave the warning on Friday while addressing the International Catholic Legislators Network at the Vatican, where he called for stronger legal and ethical safeguards to regulate the rapid development and use of artificial intelligence.
Pope Leo said sound legislation should encourage scientific and technological creativity while protecting fundamental human rights and freedoms.
He urged lawmakers to ensure that emerging technologies protect users from exploitation, safeguard personal privacy, promote transparency and strengthen democratic institutions.
The Pope explained the importance of “robust legal frameworks, independent oversight, informed users and a political system that does not abdicate its responsibility” in dealing with AI.
He also warned that the rapid development of artificial intelligence could create new forms of technological dependence, particularly for poorer nations that increasingly rely on technology developed and controlled by wealthier countries.
“We must remain vigilant in this regard,” he said, warning that innovation could become “another vehicle for ideological or economic colonialism.”
Pope Leo further expressed concern over the growing influence of algorithms and digital platforms, saying they could determine who is visible in society, shape public discourse without accountability and reduce the dignity of workers to mere optimisation.
Against what he described as a new form of domination, the Pope said the Church proposes a “civilization of love,” with the family serving as its foundation.
“In such a society,” he said, “the first school of humanity would be the family.”
According to him, it is within the family that people first learn trust before calculation, generosity before competition, dialogue before division and love before power.
He warned that artificial intelligence must never be allowed to undermine this “primary cell of society” by reducing people and relationships to data and simulations, exposing young people to content that distorts desire or contributing to economic conditions that make family life precarious.
The Pope therefore urged lawmakers to introduce policies that strengthen marriage and families, support parents in their educational responsibilities and give young people confidence in the future.
“For this reason,” Pope Leo said, “I encourage you to promote policies that strengthen marriage and families, support parents in their educational mission and enable young people to look to the future with confidence.”
He said the world does not need artificial intelligence that diminishes humanity but requires human intelligence guided by wisdom, political authority directed by conscience and technological innovation placed at the service of charity.
Pope Leo expressed the hope that artificial intelligence would become a servant of humanity and the common good rather than a rival to human beings.
Tags: Pope Leo XIV, Artificial Intelligence, Family, Vatican, Catholic Church
