Pope Francis met with the members of the Pontifical Academy for Life. It is a Vatican organization, founded by Pope John Paul II, which is celebrating a very special anniversary in 2019.
“Thank you for this meeting with the Pontifical Academy for Life, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this month.”
Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Academy, was in charge of delivering the initial greeting. During its Plenary Assembly, the members of the institution are reflecting on the theme of “Robotics: people, machines and health.”
In his speech, Pope Francis warned about the dangers of uncontrolled technological development.
POPE FRANCIS
“On the one hand, technological development has allowed us to solve problems that were insurmountable until a few years ago. For that, we are grateful to the researchers who have achieved these results; on the other hand, difficulties and threats have arisen, sometimes more insidious than the previous ones. The 'possibility to do' risks obscuring who does what and for whom it is done.”
The pope also lamented that on many occasions technical advances are prioritized over the needs of human life itself.
POPE FRANCIS
“The current evolution of technology's capacity produces a dangerous phenomenon. Instead of offering human life the tools to improve care, one runs the risk of giving life over to devices' logic in order to decide human worth.”
Finally, Pope Francis invited these scientists and scholars to develop universal ethical criteria. This would be to ensure that artificial intelligence, robotics and technological innovations contribute to the good of people and the planet, not its downfall.
