Pope Leo XIV lays out his vision of the papacy and identifies AI as a main challenge for humanity

VATICAN CITY AP Pope Leo XIV laid out the vision of his papacy Saturday identifying artificial intelligence as one of the largest part critical matters facing humanity and vowing to continue in particular of the core priorities of Pope Francis In his first formal audience Leo repeatedly cited Francis and the Argentine pope s own mission announcement making clear a commitment to making the Catholic Church more inclusive attentive to the faithful and a church that looks out for the least and rejected Leo the first American pope explained the cardinals who elected him that he was fully committed to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council the s meetings that modernized the church He identified AI as one of the main issues facing humanity saying it poses challenges to defending human dignity justice and labor In another hint to his priorities the Vatican revealed that Leo a member of the Augustinian religious order would retain the motto and coat of arms that he had as bishop of Chiclayo Peru The motto In Illo uno unum was pronounced by St Augustine in a sermon to explain that although we Christians are plenty of in the one Christ we are one Identifying with Pope Francis Leo referred to AI in explaining the choice of his name His namesake Pope Leo XIII was pope from to and laid the foundation for modern Catholic social thought He did so majority famously with his encyclical Rerum Novarum which addressed workers rights and capitalism at the dawn of the industrial age The late pope criticized both laissez-faire capitalism and state-centric socialism giving shape to a distinctly Catholic vein of economic teaching In his remarks Saturday Leo reported he identified with his predecessor who addressed the great social question of the day posed by the industrial revolution in the encyclical In our own day the church offers everyone the treasury of its social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defence of human dignity justice and labour he mentioned Toward the end of his pontificate Francis became increasingly vocal about the threats to humanity posed by AI and called for an international treaty to regulate it He warned that such powerful device risks turning human relations into mere algorithms Francis brought his message to the Group of Seven industrialized nations when he addressed their summit last year insisting AI must remain human-centric so that decisions about when to use weapons or even less-lethal tools consistently remain made by humans and not machines The late Argentine pope also used his annual peace message to call for an international treaty to ensure AI is developed and used ethically arguing that a equipment lacking human values of compassion mercy morality and forgiveness is too perilous to develop unchecked Francis in multiple procedures saw the Chicago-born Augustinian missionary Robert Prevost as something of an heir apparent He moved him to take over a small Peruvian diocese in where Prevost later became bishop and head of the Peruvian bishops conference and then called him to Rome to take over one of the bulk central Vatican offices vetting bishop nominations in In the speech delivered in Italian in the Vatican s synod hall not the Apostolic Palace Leo made repeated references to Francis and the mourning over his death He held up Francis mission comment at the start of his pontificate The Contentment of the Gospel as something of his own marching orders suggesting he intends very much to continue in Francis priorities He cited Francis insistence on the missionary nature of the church and the need to make its leadership more collegial He cited the need to pay attention to what the faithful say especially in its preponderance authentic and inclusive forms especially popular piety Again referring to Francis mission report Leo cited the need for the church to express loving care for the least and rejected and engage in courageous dialogue with the contemporary world A quick conclave Greeted by a standing ovation as he entered Leo read from his prepared text only looking up occasionally Even when he first appeared to the world on the loggia of St Peter s Basilica on Thursday night Leo read from a prepared handwritten text that he must have drafted sometime before his historic electoral contest or the hour or so after He seemed most of at ease speaking off-the-cuff in the scarce words he pronounced in Spanish Prevost was elected the th pontiff on Thursday on the fourth ballot of the conclave an exceptionally fast outcome given this was the largest and greater part geographically diverse conclave in history and not all cardinals knew one another before arriving in Rome Cardinals have explained Prevost did not make any major speech during the pre-conclave discussions and he carried into the conclave the traditional taboo precluding a pope from the United States given America s superpower status But Prevost was already known to a great number of of them given his decades as a missionary and then bishop in Peru and had been the head of the Vatican s bishops office since They revealed he made an impression in smaller groups where English was the key language of communication in a conclave that brought together cardinals from countries Madagascar Cardinal D sir Tsarahazana narrated reporters on Saturday that on the final ballot Prevost had received more than votes That suggests an extraordinary margin well beyond the two-thirds or votes necessary to be elected