Pope Leo warns in France that AI is creating ‘paradise of machines’

• Pope Leo visited France from Sept 25 to 28, promoting peace, addressing AI regulation, and aiming to restore the Catholic Church's reputation after abuse scandals.
• He met French leaders, spoke at UNESCO, and called for global AI governance, highlighting AI's benefits and risks to international peace.
• Leo planned meetings with abuse survivors, led prayers at Notre-Dame, and emphasised Europe's unity and peace in his final speech in Metz.

PARIS – Pope Leo urged the world to reconsider the development of artificial intelligence, opening his four-day visit to France on Sept 25 with a fervent warning that AI could create a future where “a paradise of machines” takes control of the earth.

The first US pope, who has made sounding the alarm about the risks of AI a central part of his 16-month papacy, put the issue at the heart of his visit to France, the first by a pope in nearly 20 years.

“If we are to avoid losing our humanity amid a ‘paradise of machines’ invading and conditioning our daily lives, there is an urgent need for education in ethical discernment,” he said, speaking under the gilded ceilings of the Elysee Palace.

The Pope also strongly reiterated the Church’s pro-life teachings, criticising initiatives to allow assisted dying for those who have incurable illnesses, two months after French politicians approved such a measure.

“I am concerned... by those trends in society 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,” he said.

Leo, on a whirlwind three-city visit to France, will also seek to repair the Church’s standing there after abuse scandals sparked nationwide shock, and is also expected to lay out a vision for the future of Europe in a speech on Sept 28.

‘Message of peace’

Leo was greeted at the Paris Orly Airport, under a clear blue sky, by French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte, and by children who sang for him and asked for autographs. Leo will also travel to a famed Catholic shrine in Lourdes, in the south-west, and to Metz, on the German border.

He was due to lead a prayer service in Paris on Sept 25 at the restored Notre-Dame cathedral, in the first visit by a pope since a devastating fire nearly destroyed the Gothic masterpiece in 2019.

Telling reporters on the plane to Paris that he was coming to convey a message of peace, Leo added: “It is a message which, at this time, as we all may know, is particularly important.”

People lining the streets Leo was due to pass through on his way to the Elysee held up phones and waved flags and signs.

“He brings a message of peace and hope that is very, very positive. His visit to France sends a wonderful signal to the country,” Catholic passer-by Antoine Barxias-Casties said in front of Notre-Dame cathedral on the eve of Leo’s visit.

Next on Leo’s agenda on Sept 25 was a speech to staff at the headquarters of the UN culture and education body, UNESCO, which is facing budget shortfalls after US President Donald Trump withdrew from the agency in 2025.

Leo attracted Trump’s ire earlier in 2026 after the Pope criticised the Iran war.

Asked about Trump’s attempt to bar CNN and several other outlets from the White House, Leo, aboard the plane to Paris, reaffirmed his support for freedom of the press, saying all were welcome to cover his visit.

Secular nation

France, a secular nation where the separation of Church and state is enshrined in a 1905 law, has witnessed a steady decline in affiliation to the Catholic Church during the post-war era, mirroring a trend in other traditionally Catholic countries.

Although the French Bishops’ Conference points to an increase in baptisms of adults, a report published by the official statistics agency INSEE showed that only 25 per cent of French 18- to 49-year-olds identified as Catholic, compared with 43 per cent a decade earlier. Only 8 per cent of Catholics said they regularly attended a place of worship.

Leo’s visit comes as Catholic leaders in France have been at odds with the government over the 2024 enshrining of a right to abortion in the French Constitution – a world first – and the passage of the law legalising assisted dying.

Pope to meet abuse survivors

Local Church leaders hope the Pope’s visit will repair the Church’s standing after a crushing 2021 report found that some 330,000 French children had been abused by Catholic clergy and lay leaders over seven decades.

French bishops have since introduced compensation and safeguarding measures, but survivors have continued to press Church leaders to demonstrate accountability.

Alain Esquerre, 66, a spokesman for victims at the Notre-Dame de Betharram Catholic institution, told Reuters: “Leo bears the immense responsibility of ‘declaring enough is enough’.”

The Pope will meet seven French victims of abuse by Catholic clergy on Sept 27 in Lourdes. REUTERS