Pope Leo XIV warns against excesses of science, AI, surrogacy and euthanasia in France
Leo XIV became the first pope to visit the Paris cathedral since its reopening in December 2024, following the devastating fire in April 2019. Authorities expected around 250,000 people along the 1.5-mile route between Montparnasse and Place Saint-Michel, near Notre-Dame.
Leo XIV arrives in his Popemobile at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris
Pope Leo XIV arrived in Paris on Friday to begin a four-day visit to France, the first by a pontiff to the country in 18 years. Crowds gathered in the streets of the capital to welcome the leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, who arrived in the popemobile at the esplanade of Notre-Dame to celebrate Vespers before some 8,000 clergy, deacons and seminarians.
Leo XIV became the first pope to visit the Paris cathedral since its reopening in December 2024, following the devastating fire in April 2019. Authorities expected around 250,000 people along the 1.5-mile route between Montparnasse and Place Saint-Michel, near Notre-Dame.
Warning about artificial intelligence
At the Élysée Palace, addressing French officials and diplomats, Leo XIV warned against the risk of losing "our humanity amid a paradise of machines invading and conditioning our daily lives," referring to artificial intelligence.
The pontiff, who in May dedicated his first encyclical Magnifica Humanitas to AI, called for "disarming" this technology to "prevent it from dominating humanity." He called for "education in ethical discernment and the capacity to acknowledge the moral good," so that technological progress may be at the service of human dignity.
Secularism, surrogacy and euthanasia
The pope also addressed the relationship between Church and State in France, where the law has separated the two spheres for over a century. "An authentic secularity, then, consists not in excluding religion from the public sphere or from education, but in striving to ensure that the state and religious institutions maintain dialogue and join forces in the service of the common good," he said.
Leo XIV expressed concern about social trends that "risk turning science and technology into profit-driven ventures promoting genetic manipulation, surrogacy, the trade in human organs or the possibility of arranging one's own death."
These statements come after the French Parliament passed a law in June that recognizes the right to euthanasia and assisted suicide, in certain cases, for adults with incurable diseases.
"The protection of the right to life is the essential foundation of every other human right," he added in the presence of President Emmanuel Macron.
France, "a tireless champion of peace"
Against a backdrop of strained transatlantic relations and with the Russian invasion of Ukraine now in its fifth year, Leo XIV urged France to remain "a tireless champion of peace and multilateralism, particularly within our beloved Europe."
The visit will continue for three more days with additional meetings in Paris and other French cities.
Macron defends French secularism and global governance for AI
"When the republic decided, a little over one hundred and twenty years ago, on the separation of church and state, it gave shape to a distinctly French form of secularism that in no way negates religion," Macron stated.
Macron took the opportunity to propose the establishment of an "international organization" to prevent the "most advanced models" of artificial intelligence from ending up "in the hands of a few, who would then have to make decisions for all of humanity."
"Artificial intelligence must be a servant, not a master. The digital revolution must empower, not shackle," the French president emphasized during his speech at the Élysée Palace, after warning about the risks of "losing control" of this technology.
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