Pope Francis recently achieved two significant milestones. First, he became the first supreme pontiff to attend the Venice Biennale, a contemporary art festival, on April 28, marking the 129th year since its foundation in 1895. Second, he was the first pope to participate in the Group of Seven (G7) summit at Borgo Egnazia in the city of Fasano in Puglia, Italy, from June 13-15, upon the invitation of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
At first glance, these two events might seem unrelated — what does a contemporary art festival have to do with an intergovernmental forum like the G7? However, they are more closely related than they appear.
The theme of the Holy See Pavilion at the Biennale, “With My Own Eyes — Con i miei occhi,” encapsulates Pope Francis’ intentions to engage in both witnessing firsthand (seeing with his own eyes) and inviting others to do the same. The Vatican Pavilion at the Biennale invited visitors to witness the Giudecca Women’s Prison and the artwork of its residents. This initiative serves not only as a display of beautiful art but also as a critique of waste and the throwaway culture, themes that Pope Francis eloquently addressed in his Puglia G7 speech June 14. His focus on witnessing and encouraging others to witness and react underscores his commitment to social justice and inclusivity.
Do Pope Francis’ recent firsts — the Venice Biennale and the Puglia G7 address on artificial intelligence (AI) — benefit the Church and its mission?
I believe so. AI is currently a focal point for every institution of higher education. Surveys on AI and academic integrity are being conducted at my home institution, Seton Hall University. Various other institutions have developed guidelines for incorporating generative AI into teaching. For instance, the University of Kansas has implemented specific guidelines, while the University of Hawaii has adopted a decentralized approach, recognizing that instructors are best positioned to assess the benefits, limitations and ethical considerations specific to their academic disciplines and courses. Georgetown University is offering guidelines on how to design assignments using ChatGPT. The advent and proliferation of AI are irreversible; AI cannot be undone or entirely controlled.
Here are five takeaways from Francis’ speech at Puglia G7.
1. Relevance and Influence of the Church
What Pope Francis is doing at the Puglia G7 continues the efforts initiated by the Rome Call for AI Ethics in February 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic. He emphasizes the same principles outlined in the Rome Call document: transparency, inclusion, responsibility, impartiality, reliability, security and privacy.
Pope Francis’ address at the G7 on AI positions the Church as a relevant and influential player, offering valuable insights to the political leaders of the world’s seven most advanced economies. The Church cannot remain on the periphery of such a significant issue. By actively participating in the G7, Pope Francis demonstrated the Church’s openness to science and scientific research, thereby preventing a recurrence of the “Galileo closure.” This sentiment is indirectly referenced in Gaudium et Spes (No. 36), which critiques certain mindsets among Christians. In addition to his role as a religious leader and Bishop of Rome, Pope Francis also holds a political position as the head of the Vatican City State.
2. AI and Human Control
Pope Francis asserts that AI, created through God-given human creativity, should serve humanity and remain under human control. He begins his speech with references to Sacred Scripture, describing the genesis of AI as a manifestation of the creative potential bestowed upon humanity by God. This perspective aligns with the teachings of Vatican II, particularly Gaudium et Spes. Nearly 59 years ago, Gaudium et Spes anticipated technological advancements and said technology “is now transforming the face of the earth and is already trying to master outer space.” (No. 5)
Vatican II acknowledged that the rapid development of science and technology has introduced new problems, necessitating novel approaches to pastoral work. Additionally, Gaudium et Spes (No. 36) emphasizes the importance of ethical principles and moral norms in scientific research, while also affirming that sciences and human activities have the right to their own methodological autonomy. This rightful independence of science entails respecting the inherent moral norms present within creation, which are relevant to each discipline’s specific method of inquiry.
All things, including science and AI, are created by God and are sustained by his hand. Gaudium et Spes (No. 36) underscores that advancement in technology is the product of collective human labor, which, for believers, operates in harmony with God’s will. Since God cannot contradict himself, AI is a manifestation of the God-given creative potential of humanity, and we must ensure its responsible and ethical use.
3. Significant Benefits and Challenges of AI in Education
Pope Francis makes an important distinction between “generative” AI and what is genuinely required by students engaged in academic courses; writing scholarly papers; and developing innovative, interdisciplinary thinking and new hypotheses that demand authentic research. While generative AI can produce text, information, images and videos in response to prompts using generative models, it can never replace human ingenuity and genuine reflection. Similarly, predictive AI can make forecasts but cannot substitute for the human mind’s creativity and critical thinking.
Furthermore, Pope Francis highlights an additional concern: Generative and predictive AI risk consolidating prejudice, disseminating fake news, and perpetuating repetition. This observation is particularly pertinent for educators:
Students are often much better prepared for, and more familiar with, using artificial intelligence than their teachers. Yet they forget that, strictly speaking, so-called generative artificial intelligence is not really ‘generative.’ Instead, it searches big data for information and puts it together in the style required of it. It does not develop new analyses or concepts, but repeats those that it finds, giving them an appealing form. … Education should provide students with the possibility of authentic reflection, yet it runs the risk of being reduced to a repetition of notions, which will increasingly be evaluated as unobjectionable, simply because of their constant repetition.
4. Human Dignity and Ethical Decision-Making
Centering on human dignity aligns with the February 2020 Rome Call for AI Ethics, which advocates for an “algorethical” vision — an approach emphasizing ethics by design. Machines cannot make decisions; only humans, endowed with God-given intelligence and compassion, are capable of making decisions and ethical choices. Delegating decision-making to machines or AI is not only unethical but also prone to inaccuracy.
Pope Francis emphasizes human dignity and decision-making, likely alluding to the manipulation and selection of human embryos by machines in the context of human reproduction. Franciscan Father Paolo Benati, the Vatican’s go-to person on AI, appointed by Prime Minister Meloni as President of the AI Commission for Information and a member of the United Nations Advisory Board on Artificial Intelligence, asserted this connection in a recent interview with the Italian Logos. Such practices are unethical, as humans should not make these decisions, and it is even more concerning when these decisions are left to machines. Pope Francis underscores this point by stating:
We would condemn humanity to a future without hope if we took away people’s ability to make decisions about themselves and their lives, by dooming them to depend on the choices of machines. We need to ensure and safeguard a space for proper human control over the choices made by artificial intelligence programs: human dignity itself depends on it.
The same principle applies to uncontrolled “lethal autonomous weapons.” Human control and decision-making are imperative, as no machine should have the authority to choose to take a human life.
5. Politics Matters
Politics serves the society, and a better kind of politics, a far-sighted politics that is capable of a new, integral and interdisciplinary approach to handling the different aspects of the crisis, will serve society better, an argument Pope Francis made in his 2020 Encyclical Letter Fratelli Tutti (Chapter 5). Shifting attention to the ethical level, Pope Francis emphasizes the need to balance power dynamics beyond mere economic considerations. Technological advancements should not perpetuate injustice or widen the gap between the haves and the have-nots. Instead, technology should unite people and governments, fostering a culture of encounter.
Pope Francis advocates for human-centered, humanizing and bridge-building technology at the Puglia G7. Technology should benefit all and be accessible to everyone. He warns the West of lost value which centered on the human person and the dignity of the human person, stating:
Technology is born for a purpose and, in its impact on human society, always represents a form of order in social relationships and a disposition of power, which enables someone to take action and prevents others from doing so.
Overall, Pope Francis’ interventions at the Venice Biennale and the Puglia G7 were well received by world leaders, demonstrating the Church’s active engagement with modern challenges. As a faculty member who is searching to draft policies and include AI tools constructively in teaching, I found Pope Francis’ intervention inspiring and constructive. AI should have a soul, or we theology professors can search for AI’s soul. This work was started by Father Rocco Malatacca, and it draws parallels between AI and biblical language — Hebrew, in a recent study. In sum, by highlighting how technology can unite people and serve as an ecumenical, interfaith agent, Pope Francis demonstrates the Church’s commitment to addressing contemporary global challenges, transcending frontiers and divisions.
