This is the first state visit by a Pope to France in 18 years. In his speech at the the Elysée Palace earlier on Friday, Pope Leo addressed the dangers of artificial intelligence and technology, wars and nuclear weapons, as well as the future of Europe.
"The trend of turning science and technology into profit-driven schemes worries me. It risks promoting gene intervention, surrogacy, organ trafficking, or enabling people to arrange their own death. If we are to avoid losing our humanity amid a 'mechanical paradise' that is increasingly controlling our lives, we need to help people distinguish right from wrong based on ethical standards."
Pope Leo XIV also urged the world not to remain indifferent to the “calamity” of war, especially the conflicts the Middle East and Ukraine. He reiterated his call for a total ban on nuclear weapons, saying such weapons would fuel new arms races and are becoming increasingly difficult to control.
The Pope called on France to “remain a tireless champion of peace and multilateralism”.
