Pope Leo XIV cautioned on Friday that humanity must not be sacrificed in a “paradise of machines” as thousands of people gathered to greet him during his visit to France.
“If we are to preserve our humanity in the face of a paradise of machines that increasingly enter and shape our daily lives, we urgently need education that teaches ethical judgment,” Leo said.
During the first official papal visit to France in 18 years, the pontiff also argued that the country’s firmly secular identity should not mean pushing religion out of public life. France has maintained a formal separation between church and state since 1905.
“Authentic secularity” does not mean excluding faith from public institutions or education, he said. Instead, it should encourage the state and religious organizations to engage in dialogue and work together for the common good, according to the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
In recent years, French politicians have cited the nation’s secular model when defending restrictions on religious symbols, including Muslim women’s clothing in schools and other public settings.
The papal visit comes just seven months before France begins the first round of its presidential election to succeed Emmanuel Macron. The anti-immigration far right sees the contest as a major opportunity to take power.
The first US-born pope also raised concerns about developments that could turn science and technology into profit-focused industries, citing genetic modification, surrogacy, the sale of human organs and the prospect of allowing people to arrange their own deaths. His remarks followed France’s June legislation giving some terminally ill adults access to assisted dying.
Pope Leo XIV is welcomed by French President Emmanuel Macron and First Lady Brigitte Macron during a private visit to the Élysée Palace
Pope Leo XIV holds a private meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron
Pope Leo XIV warned Friday that humanity could be lost in a “paradise of machines” as thousands gathered to welcome him to France amid global concern about the risks posed by artificial intelligence
Leo, whose paternal grandmother was born in France, called on the country to remain a “tireless champion of peace” around the world as Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine continues into its fifth year.
Macron and Brigitte Macron greeted the 71-year-old pontiff at the airport, where a red carpet was laid across the tarmac. The trip is the Vatican leader’s first official visit to France since Pope Benedict XVI traveled there in September 2008.
Speaking to reporters aboard the papal plane, Leo said he was traveling to France, as he does elsewhere, as a follower of Jesus Christ determined to spread “the peace of Christ throughout the world.”
He described that message as especially significant in the current international climate.
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Organizers expect as many as one million people to attend events in Paris during the opening two days of the visit.
The centerpiece of the apostolic journey will come on Saturday, when the pope leads a large outdoor Mass at Place de la Concorde and along the adjoining Champs-Élysées.
Leo is also scheduled to travel to Lourdes, one of the world’s best-known Christian pilgrimage destinations, where he will meet privately with survivors of clerical sexual abuse. In Metz, near the German border, he is expected to continue his calls for peace in Europe.
“The pope’s visit gives me a feeling of peace in a troubled world,” said Andrée Estienne, 76, who was eagerly awaiting the Mass on the Champs-Élysées.
“I don’t believe I will ever see anything on this scale again in my lifetime,” she added.
Later on Friday, Leo was due to greet crowds during a 2.5-kilometre (1.5-mile) journey in the popemobile to Notre Dame Cathedral in central Paris. He will be the first pope to view the landmark’s restoration work since the devastating fire in 2019.
His predecessor Pope Francis – who visited France three times, but never officially – did not attend the Gothic masterpiece’s reopening in late 2024, when then president-elect Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk were among the guests.
Carmen Quintana, a 71-year-old Peruvian, said she would be among the crowd.
‘We’re very happy to be able to be near him,’ she said of the pontiff, who spent two decades as a missionary in Peru and also holds Peruvian nationality.
Last on his agenda for the day will be a mass prayer and hymns with 80,000 young believers aged 17 to 35 in a stadium in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis.
A relic, believed to be the tunic Jesus wore during the Passion, will have been transported out of the nearby Saint-Denis Cathedral to the stadium for the occasion.
Only around five percent of France’s 69 million residents go to Catholic church regularly, a survey last year found.
But while the number of infant christenings has dwindled in recent years, teenage and adult baptisms are on the rise, with thousands choosing to embrace the faith.