Pope Leo XIV used UNESCO's headquarters in Paris to warn that artificial intelligence and other technologies must stay at the service of people, not become tools of domination and injustice. The speech landed during his four-day trip to France, in a city where power likes to dress itself up as moral guidance while the machinery of control keeps humming underneath.
Efficiency, Dehumanisation, and the Human Cost
Speaking in both French and English, the pontiff said AI risks impoverishing human “ideas and relationships” through a “process of dehumanisation.” He also took aim at the modern obsession with productivity, saying that judging people by the “criterion of efficiency” risks undermining respect for human dignity. That logic, he warned, can lead to those who are no longer productive being rejected and discarded. The language is polite. The warning is brutal. A society that sorts people by output has already accepted a hierarchy of worth.
He said emerging technologies must include adequate safeguards for children, warning that the “vulnerability” of young people must “never become an opportunity for exploitation.” That line matters because the same systems that promise convenience and growth so often turn the weak into raw material. The speech framed technology as something that should serve human beings, not reduce them to data points, labour units, or disposable bodies.
War, Institutions, and the Crisis of Authority
The Pope also turned to war and UNESCO's motto, saying that “since wars begin in the minds of women and men, it is in the minds of women and men that the defences of peace must be constructed.” He said humanity has learned that scientific progress, when severed from wisdom, can become a weapon of destruction. That warning sits awkwardly beside the world of states, armies, and institutions that keep claiming they are the guardians of order while preparing the next round of violence.
He said international institutions are viewed “with mixed feelings,” describing them on one hand as bodies that tackle challenges that “no single state can face alone,” while also “undergoing a crisis of effectiveness, especially when dialogue is seen as an obstacle to action.” That is the old bureaucratic dilemma in a cleaner suit: institutions that claim global purpose but stumble when their own procedures slow the machinery of power. The problem is not just inefficiency. It’s that these structures exist to manage crises without ever surrendering control.
He called for greater “trust,” saying: “Trust that differences do not necessarily pose a threat. Trust that sincere dialogue can bring about a greater good than what each person could achieve alone.” It’s a gentle appeal, but it lands in a political moment defined by suspicion, border regimes, and states that keep treating movement, difference, and dissent as problems to be managed.
UNESCO, Washington, and the Politics of Withdrawal
The speech came as international cooperation faces growing political tensions. In July 2025, the Trump administration announced its decision to withdraw from UNESCO, describing the organization as “woke,” culturally divisive and “out-of-step” with the policies supported by Americans who voted the US President in. The decision is set to take effect in December 2026. So much for the grand language of multilateralism. When the political winds shift, the same governments that praise global cooperation happily walk away from it.
Earlier in the day, French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the Pope to the Elysée Palace, alongside diplomatic authorities, firemen who intervened during the Notre-Dame-de-Paris fire and representatives from various religious authorities. The pageantry was immaculate. The hierarchy was visible. The state, the church, and the ceremonial apparatus all took their places.
During his address, the pontiff reaffirmed the importance of the human right to life, calling it “the indispensable foundation to every other human right.” He also repeated the Vatican's staunch opposition to nuclear weapons, calling out the “mistaken belief” that nuclear deterrents provide solutions. That line cuts against the permanent logic of militarised states, which keep calling weapons a guarantee of peace while building entire security doctrines around the threat of mass destruction.
After his UNESCO speech, the pontiff traveled in his popemobile for a parade through Paris, before Vespers at the Notre-Dame-de-Paris cathedral and a major evening prayer vigil with young people at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis. The city kept moving through its rituals of authority. The speeches spoke of dignity, trust, and peace. The institutions behind them kept their grip on the world exactly where it is.