Pope Leo XIV has outlined his vision for the papacy, highlighting artificial intelligence as one of the key challenges facing humanity and promising to continue working on Pope Francis' top priorities.
However, to demonstrate his complete devotion to the papacy, Leo made his first visit after his election to a sanctuary south of Rome dedicated to the Madonna and of great importance to his Augustinian order.
Locals of Genazzano gathered in the square outside the main church, where the sanctuary of Madre del Buon Consiglio (Mother of Good Counsel) is located, as Leo arrived by car, accompanied by Vatican guards.
The sanctuary, run by Augustinian monks, has been a place of pilgrimage since the 15th century and was visited by Leo last year.
After praying in the church, Leo greeted the townspeople and said that the presence of the Madonna among them was both a blessing and a responsibility.
On his way back to the Vatican, he stopped to pray at Francis' tomb in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.
The afternoon stroll came after Leo held his first formal audience with the cardinals who elected him pope.
During the meeting, Leo repeatedly referred to the missionary statement of Francis and the Argentine pope himself from 2013, which clearly reflects the desire to make the Catholic Church more open and responsive to its believers, as well as a church that cares for “the least protected and excluded.”
Leo told the cardinals of his full commitment to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, the 1960s meetings that led to the modernization of the church.
He highlighted AI as one of the main challenges facing humanity, stressing that it creates obstacles to the protection of human dignity, justice and labor.
Leo addressed the AI in explaining his choice of name: his predecessor, Pope Leo XIII, was pope from 1878 to 1903 and laid the foundations of modern Catholic social theory.
He is best known for his 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, which examined workers' rights and capitalism at the dawn of the industrial age.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
