Pope Leo XIV warned Friday that a "paradise of machines" risked undermining humanity as he opened a trip to France by posing fundamental questions about what it means to be human in the 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 opening speech to President Emmanuel Macron and authorities at the Élysée Palace and then to diplomats and United Nations employees at the headquarters of UNESCO, the U.N. culture and education organization. With wars plaguing Europe and the Middle East, he reaffirmed the Vatican's opposition to nuclear weapons and said the nuclear deterrence doctrine was "mistaken" since it was just fueling a new arms race.
"Peace is not a balance of power; rather, it is built day by day through dialogue and justice," he said. Leo has an intense four days in France, where the Catholic Church has lost ground in influencing ethical issues given the strict approach to secularism that is enshrined in the French Constitution. Yet thousands of people lined his motorcade route, waving French and Holy See flags, with some braving hours of the unseasonable heat to catch a glimpse of him.
The turnout underscored the surprising level of interest in Leo's visit, the first official state visit by a pope to France in 18 years. "To see him, praying with us, it comforts us in our faith and on our path," said Senegalese Sister Antonia Faye, who was glowing after her first-ever event with a pope, an evening prayer service at Notre Dame that featured angelic choirs and the cathedral's booming organ. "Being with the pope is different to being alone or praying alone.
We felt the benediction that came down on us," she said. For Macron, who is barred from seeking a third term in May elections, hosting the American pope is something of a capstone. Pope Francis had refused repeatedly to make a proper state visit to France during his 12-year pontificate and pointedly refused to join the inauguration of the rebuilt Notre Dame cathedral in 2024 that Macron had championed.
"For a president of the republic as Macron, who is at the end of his mandate, it can be important to be aside the pope and to capture a part of his popularity," said Charles Mercier, director of history and sociology of Catholicism studies at Paris EPHE university. With seven months left in his term, Macron's approval ratings are near record lows, 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 Leo spoke French, Macron thanked the pope for visiting, saying: "You are here with us for an extended visit, giving us your time, and that is moving." Unlike Francis, who liked to travel to small Catholic communities far from Rome, Leo has been keen to emphasize and reawaken Europe's Christian roots.
He is seeking to push 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 medication. The French Catholic hierarchy strongly opposed the measures, in keeping 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 authorities, Leo reminded France of its "deep Christian roots" and called for the French to remember that the right to life is the "indispensable foundation of every other human right." His concern about the dignity of human life and humanity as a whole extended to the threats posed by artificial intelligence.
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