Pope Leo XIV addressed a wide range of major global and Church issues during an in-flight press conference on September 28, 2026, as he returned to Rome following his four-day apostolic visit to France.
Speaking about artificial intelligence, Pope Leo said warnings from experts about the potential dangers of AI should be taken seriously and rejected suggestions that such concerns are simply “fake news.”
“I do think that the concerns raised by many of the experts, specialists in AI, should be taken seriously,” the Pope said.
He called for governments, technology leaders, civil society and researchers to work together on meaningful safeguards, warning that humanity cannot simply ignore the possibility of increasingly powerful AI systems causing serious harm.“We have to keep working. We can’t just sit back and pretend nothing is going to happen,” he said.
The Pope also defended his strong opposition to assisted dying during his visit to France. Asked whether his interventions had crossed the boundary between Church and politics, Leo said his intention was not to interfere in French political affairs but to explain the Church’s teaching on the dignity and value of human life.“If that’s politics, I did that, but it was not to get involved in French politics. It was to teach what the Church really believes,” he said.
Pope Leo also reflected on his meeting with seven survivors of abuse during the visit. He stressed the Church’s responsibility to listen to victims, accompany them and help them seek healing, acknowledging that abuse within the Church can deeply wound or even destroy a person’s faith.
Turning to Germany, the Pope responded to concerns about the decline in Catholic participation and the rise of political extremism. He rejected the idea that the Church is simply dying, pointing to the large expressions of faith witnessed during his visit to“There are still many, many people in Germany who want to live and celebrate their Christian and Catholic faith,” Pope Leo said.
Addressing political extremism, he called Catholics and people of goodwill to return to Gospel values rooted not in hatred and division, but in understanding, compassion and accompaniment.The Pope urged citizens to participate responsibly in political life and to make choices directed toward the common good rather than extremist ideologies.
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