POPE LEO XIV WARNS AI COULD UNDERMINE HUMANITY DURING FRANCE VISIT

Pope Leo XIV arrived in France on Friday for the first state visit to the country by a pope in 18 years, according to reports. He met President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace before addressing diplomats and UN staff at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris. He warned that artificial intelligence could undermine humanity, raising fundamental questions about what it means to be human. He described AI as a "paradise of machines" that risked invading daily life and called for education in ethical discernment. Thousands gathered to welcome him as he travelled through Paris in the popemobile.

The pope said scientific progress should not become "profit-driven ventures promoting genetic manipulation, surrogacy, the trade in human organs or the possibility of arranging one's own death", remarks made months after France legalised assisted dying. He reaffirmed the Vatican's opposition to nuclear weapons, calling the doctrine of nuclear deterrence "mistaken" and saying it was fuelling a new arms race. One report said he also stated that "authentic secularity" does not exclude religion. Reports said the pope has made AI a central theme of his pontificate, dedicating his first encyclical to the subject and calling for stronger regulation.

Pope Leo XIV is due to celebrate an open-air mass on Saturday at the Place de la Concorde and the adjoining Champs-Elysees, which organisers expect some 600,000 people to attend, according to reports. He was earlier welcomed at the Stade de France, in a reception one report likened to that given to a "rock star", and later led vespers at Notre-Dame Cathedral. One report said the visit was kept focused on faith rather than politics. The mass is expected to be the largest gathering of the visit.