
Newly elected Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Robert F. Prevost of the U.S., seems on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica on the Vatican, Might 8, 2025.
Dylan Martinez | Reuters
Pope Leo XIV stated Saturday that he chosen his papal title partially to commemorate Pope Leo XIII for his dedication to social points and staff’ rights through the industrial revolution.
Leo stated that the world now faces new hurdles to staff’ rights — and humanity extra broadly — as a result of rise of synthetic intelligence.
“In our personal day, the church affords everybody the treasury of its social instructing in response to a different industrial revolution and to developments within the area of synthetic intelligence that pose new challenges for the protection of human dignity, justice and labor,” stated the American pontiff, who earlier than his election by a Vatican conclave on Thursday was referred to as Cardinal Robert Prevost.
Leo’s remarks offered one of many earliest indications of his imaginative and prescient for management and priorities as head of the Roman Catholic Church.
Leo additionally prompt throughout his first assembly with cardinals since his election that he would comply with the late Pope Francis‘ lead on his dedication to social justice.
“It has been clearly seen within the instance of so lots of my predecessors, and most lately by Pope Francis himself, along with his instance of full dedication to service and to sober simplicity of life, his abandonment to God all through his ministry and his serene belief in the meanwhile of his return to the Father’s home,” he stated.
Francis, who was pope for 12 years, usually garnered criticism from conservative cardinals who stated he was watering down the Church’s doctrine on points like LGBT Catholics and girls’s management.
Leo XIII, the partial inspiration for the brand new pope’s title, was elected in 1878. He was a distinguished determine within the Catholic Church’s social instructing, significantly surrounding the rights of staff and the working class.
Leo is the primary American pontiff of the Catholic Church.
Reuters contributed to this report.