INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
"Like any product of human creativity, AI can be directed toward positive or negative ends," Francis said in January
"When used in ways that respect human dignity and promote the well-being of individuals and communities, it can contribute positively to the
Yet, as in all areas where humans are called to make decisions, the shadow of evil also looms here
Where human freedom allows for the possibility of choosing what is wrong, the moral evaluation of this technology will need to take into
account how it is directed and used."While Pope Francis led the call for respecting human dignity in the face of AI, it's worth looking a
little deeper into the historical inspiration for Leo XIV's name choice.In the 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, the earlier Leo XIII directly
At the time, factory conditions had created what the pope called "the misery and wretchedness pressing so unjustly on the majority of the
working class." Workers faced 16-hour days, child labor, dangerous machinery, and wages that barely sustained life.The 1891 encyclical
rejected both unchecked capitalism and socialism, instead proposing Catholic social doctrine that defended workers' rights to form unions,
earn living wages, and rest on Sundays
Leo XIII argued that labor possessed inherent dignity and that employers held moral obligations to their workers
The document shaped modern Catholic social teaching and influenced labor movements worldwide, establishing the church as an advocate for
workers caught between industrial capital and revolutionary socialism.Just as mechanization disrupted traditional labor in the 1890s,
artificial intelligence now potentially threatens employment patterns and human dignity in ways that Pope Leo XIV believes demand similar
moral leadership from the church."In our own day," Leo XIV concluded in his formal address on Saturday, "the Church offers to everyone the
treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence
that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice, and labor."
