Pope Leo XIV delivered his first official address Saturday to the College of Cardinals and emphasized the importance of the Catholic Church for humanity’s response to artificial intelligence.
The U.S.-born pontiff explained the inspiration behind his name choice and laid out his vision for his papacy as the 266th successor to St. Peter and head of the Catholic Church.
“Pope Leo XIII, with the historic Encyclical Rerum novarum, addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution,” the Holy Father said.
“Today, the Church offers to all her treasure of social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and the developments of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defence of human dignity, justice and labor.”
Pope Leo XIII, a 19th- and early 20th-century pope whose intellectual influence on the Catholic Church remains significant, is best known for Rerum novarum, an encyclical where he confronted industrial capitalism and the looming threat of socialism. Pope Leo XIII strongly condemned socialism and emphasized the importance of both private property ownership and the rights of workers, a position that remains common among Catholics. He is also known for developing the powerful St. Michael’s prayer and devotion to the Virgin Mary, Mother of God.
Addressing the college of Cardinals, the newly elected Pope Leo XIV voiced gratitude for their choice and humbly acknowledged his own limitations as he begins his papacy.
“You, dear cardinals, are the closest collaborators of the pope. This has proved a great comfort to me in accepting a yoke clearly far beyond my own limited powers, as it would be for any of us,” the Pope said.
He specifically thanked Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the college of Cardinals, and Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Church’s camerlengo, for their work during the brief vacancy period. Along with the Lord, the Pope said he trusted that the Cardinals would help him fulfill his new set of responsibilities.
The pontiff began his address with a prayer and an acknowledgement of the mourning period following the death of late Pope Francis, who Leo XIV succeeded in the papacy. He entrusted the soul of Pope Francis and the Church’s future to the Lord, calling the conclave a “paschal event” guided by the light of Jesus Christ’s Resurrection.
Pope Leo XIV cited Francis’s apostolic exhortation, “Evangelii Gaudium,” in committing himself to staying on the Church’s path following Vatican II, a 20th century Church council that significantly reformed Catholic practices and doctrine to meet modern challenges.
Touching on Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Leo XIV listed several guiding principles for his pontificate, “the return to the primacy of Christ in proclamation; the missionary conversion of the entire Christian community; growth in collegiality and synodality; attention to the sensus fidei, especially in its most authentic and inclusive forms, such as popular piety; loving care for the least and the rejected; courageous and trusting dialogue with the contemporary world.”
He ended the address by quoting Pope St. Paul VI, the Pope who implemented the Vatican II reforms, expressing hope at the start of his pontificate. Pope Leo XIV’s ascendance to the papacy brings a moment of great joy and promise for Catholics worldwide following the conclave.