Pope warns against losing humanity in 'paradise of machines'

PARIS, Sept 25: Pope Leo XIV on Friday warned against losing humanity in a "paradise of machines", after church bells rang and thousands gathered to welcome him to France amid worldwide concern over the dangers of artificial intelligence.

"If we are to avoid losing our humanity amid a paradise of machines invading and conditioning our daily lives, there is an urgent need for education in ethical discernment," Leo said after President Emmanuel Macron welcomed him to the presidential palace, on the first of four days in the country.

On the first official papal trip in 18 years to a proudly secular country that has since 1901 separated church and state, the pope also stressed that "authentic secularity" should not exclude religion.

It "consists not in excluding religion from the public sphere or from education, but in striving to ensure that the state and religious institutions maintain dialogue and join forces in the service of the common good," the leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics said.

Politicians have in recent years invoked France's brand of secularism to justify bans on religious symbols including Muslim women's attire in public spaces and schools.

France is just seven months away from the first round of its presidential election to replace Macron, with the anti-immigration far right eyeing its best chance at seizing power in the vote.

After France passed legislation in June granting some adult patients the right to assisted dying, the first US pontiff said he was concerned by trends "that risk turning science and technology into profit-driven ventures promoting genetic manipulation, surrogacy, the trade in human organs or the possibility of arranging one's own death".�" AFP