Pope warns a ‘paradise of machines’ could undermine humanity as he opens France trip

PARIS (AP) — Pope Leo XIV warned Friday that a “paradise of machines” risked undermining humanity as he opened a trip to France by posing fundamental questions about what it means to be human in the age of artificial intelligence, a nuclear arms race and other threats to life itself.

Leo raised existential concerns about scientific progress, life and human rights during his opening speech to President Emmanuel Macron and authorities at the Élysée Palace and then to diplomats and United Nations employees at the headquarters of UNESCO, the U.N. culture and education organization.

With wars plaguing Europe and the Middle East, he reaffirmed the Vatican’s opposition to nuclear weapons and said the nuclear deterrence doctrine was “mistaken” since it was just fueling a new arms race.

“Peace is not a balance of power; rather, it is built day by day through dialogue and justice,” he said.

Leo has an intense four days in France, where the Catholic Church has lost ground in influencing ethical issues given the strict approach to secularism that is enshrined in the French Constitution.

Yet thousands of people lined his motorcade route, waving French and Holy See flags, with some braving hours of the unseasonable heat to catch a glimpse of him. The turnout underscored the surprising level of interest in Leo’s visit, the first official state visit by a pope to France in 18 years.

“To see him, praying with us, it comforts us in our faith and on our path,” said Senegalese Sister Antonia Faye, who was glowing after her first-ever event with a pope, an evening prayer service at Notre Dame that featured angelic choirs and the cathedral’s booming organ.

“Being with the pope is different to being alone or praying alone. We felt the benediction that came down on us,” she said.

For Macron, who is barred from seeking a third term in May elections, hosting the American pope is something of a capstone. Pope Francis had refused repeatedly to make a proper state visit to France during his 12-year pontificate and pointedly refused to join the inauguration of the rebuilt Notre Dame cathedral in 2024 that Macron had championed.

“For a president of the republic as Macron, who is at the end of his mandate, it can be important to be aside the pope and to capture a part of his popularity,” said Charles Mercier, director of history and sociology of Catholicism studies at Paris EPHE university.

With seven months left in his term, Macron’s approval ratings are near record lows, driven by anger over the rising cost of living and criticism of France’s growing debt and deficit and deteriorating public services.

Smiling broadly as Leo spoke French, Macron thanked the pope for visiting, saying: “You are here with us for an extended visit, giving us your time, and that is moving.”

Unlike Francis, who liked to travel to small Catholic communities far from Rome, Leo has been keen to emphasize and reawaken Europe’s Christian roots. He is seeking to push the church’s message about the value and dignity of human life in a country where the right to abortion was enshrined in the constitution in 2024, and where lawmakers recently gave final approval to a bill allowing adults with incurable illnesses to receive lethal medication.

The French Catholic hierarchy strongly opposed the measures, in keeping with Catholic teaching that human life must be protected and defended from conception until natural death.

In his speech to Macron and other government and diplomatic authorities, Leo reminded France of its “deep Christian roots” and called for the French to remember that the right to life is the “indispensable foundation of every other human right.”

His concern about the dignity of human life and humanity as a whole extended to the threats posed by artificial intelligence.

“The paradox has become increasingly evident: while ‘intelligence’ is attributed to computational systems, we struggle to recognize the inalienable dignity of human persons, whose lives are judged according to the criterion of efficiency and, when deemed no longer productive, are rejected and discarded,” he said.

From the very start of his pontificate, Leo has identified AI as one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. He dedicated his first encyclical to the topic, “Magnificent Humanity,” calling for robust regulation and for AI developers to work for the common good rather than profit.

Leo also appealed to AI developers and political leaders responsible for regulating them to slow down, an appeal that several top AI companies seem to have taken to heart recently.

“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 and the capacity to acknowledge the moral good,” he said.

Leo earlier told reporters that he was pleased his message was being heard and said he hoped the dialogue that the Vatican initiated with tech companies would continue.

“And I think from their perspective, many of them, they’re very much open to looking for ways of making sure that AI does not displace or ultimately destroy humanity, but rather is a tool for human beings,” he said.

Later on Friday, Leo presided over evening prayers in Paris' soaring Notre Dame cathedral, the first pope to celebrate there since the devastating 2019 fire that consumed the cathedral’s roof and toppled its spire.

After being mobbed by a crowd of eager nuns outside, Leo walked down the central aisle to the combined thundering of the organ above and cheers from the pews below. As bells tolled, he knelt in silent prayer in the same spot where, in 2019, flames brought down scorched roof beams.

Leo marveled at the brilliance of the stained-glass windows and restored cream columns and praised the artisans who repaired them. He urged the priests and nuns gathered in the pews to be inspired by the combined effort to bring the Gothic masterpiece back to life.

Francis had refused to visit France on a proper state visit, and explicitly refused Macron’s invitation to come for the 2024 reopening of the cathedral that drew dozens of world leaders.

He did make three short trips to French cities, however, including Strasbourg in 2014 and Marseille and Corsica in 2024, a one-day visit that became his last foreign trip.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Pope Leo XIV waves the crowd in the streets of Paris, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)

Pope Leo XIV prays before leaving after celebrating Vespers at Notre-Dame Cathedral, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026, in Paris. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Leo XIV leads the celebration of vespers at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Pope Leo XIV, followed by Director-General Khaled El-Enany, leaves UNESCO headquarters, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026, in Paris. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Leo XIV, center right, and French President Emmanuel Macron, leave after a joint statement at the Elysee Palace, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Teresa Suarez, Pool)

Pope Leo XIV is applauded by UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enany upon his arrival at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, Sept. 25, 2026. (Alberto Pizzoli/ Pool Photo via AP)

Pope Leo waters a olive tree alongside UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enany as he visits the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris, Sept. 25, 2026. (Remo Casilli/ Pool Photo via AP)

Pope Leo XIV, left, and French President Emmanuel Macron, attend a joint statement at the Elysee Palace, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Teresa Suarez, Pool)

Pope Leo XIV listens to French President Emmanuel Macron, during a joint statement at the Elysee Palace, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Teresa Suarez, Pool)

Pope Leo XIV speaks during a joint statement with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Teresa Suarez, Pool)

French President Emmanuel Macron and Pope Leo XIV at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (Benoit Tessier/Pool Photo via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes Pope Leo XIV to the Elysee Palace in Paris, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (Benoit Tessier/Pool Photo via AP)

Pope Leo XIV is welcomed to the Elysee Palace in Paris, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (Benoit Tessier/Pool Photo via AP)

Pope Leo XIV, right, is welcomed by French President Emmanuel Macron, center, and his wife Brigitte as he arrives at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (Remo Casilli/Pool Photo via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes Pope Leo XIV to the Elysee Palace in Paris, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (Benoit Tessier/Pool Photo via AP)

Pope Leo XIV, center, is welcomed by French President Emmanuel Macron, left, and his wife Brigitte as he arrives at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Leo XIV boards a flight to Paris at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci International Airport in Fiumicino for a four-day pastoral visit to France, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

A banner announces the upcoming visit of Pope Leo XIV in Metz eastern France, Tuesday, Sept 15, 2026 as part of his official visit to France from Sept. 26 to 28. (AP Photo/Pascal Bastien)

FILE - French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte arrive in the St. Damasus Courtyard at the Vatican to meet with Pope Leo XIV, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)

The Champs Elysees prepares for the mass that Pope Leo XIV will celebrate during his visit in Paris, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Teresa Suarez)

A pigeon flies past Pope Leo XIV as he arrives for his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Three-way talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States opened Tuesday in Abu Dhabi, the head of Kyiv’s delegation said.

“We have moved to a trilateral negotiation format involving Ukraine, the United States and Russia” after initial Ukrainian discussions with NATO and European envoys, Rustem Umerov, the head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service, said on social media.

The U.S. is renewing a push to end the war between Moscow and Kyiv after three rounds of negotiations earlier this year. The conflict, Europe's biggest since World War II, began after Russia's all-out invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.

The two-day session in Abu Dhabi, the first such meeting since February, will focus on security guarantees.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, said on X that he and fellow envoy Steve Witkoff were working on a “negotiated solution that can deliver lasting peace and create the conditions for a sovereign, secure, and prosperous Ukraine within a more stable European security environment.”

Umerov said that the day began with a meeting between the Ukrainian team, the U.S. envoys and representatives from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, NATO and the European Commission.

“Next, we will move to a trilateral format involving Ukraine, the United States and Russia,” Umerov said in a social media post.

Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported Tuesday that the Russian delegation had arrived at the site of the talks.

The Russian and Ukrainian governments remain far apart on key elements of any prospective deal to end the full-scale war, now nearing its five-year mark.

Russian President Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine to pull its troops back from Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — the four regions that Moscow illegally annexed in September 2022 but never fully captured. He also demands that Ukraine abandon its bid to join NATO, accept strict limits on its military and drop restrictions on the Russian language and the Moscow-affiliated Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

Putin wants a comprehensive peace deal on those conditions and won’t agree to a general halt in hostilities, arguing that it would only allow Ukrainian troops to rest and replenish their weapons stockpiles. He has warned that Russia will achieve its goals by force if Kyiv refuses to meet its conditions for peace.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was visiting Denmark on Tuesday, rejects Putin’s demands to voluntarily cede territory that Russia hasn't been able to take on the battlefield. Zelenskyy also rejects any limits on Ukraine's military or its arrangements with Western partners, which Kyiv sees as essential security guarantees to stop Moscow from invading again.

Ukraine argues that an immediate ceasefire is the necessary first step toward negotiating a wider settlement and says a direct meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy is the only way territorial issues can be settled.

The Russian and Ukrainian delegations include senior officials who have attended previous rounds of talks.

Russia’s chief negotiator is Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky, who has led Moscow’s team since the first direct peace talks with Ukraine in Istanbul in March 2022. The Russian delegation also includes deputy foreign ministers Sergei Ryabkov and Mikhail Galuzin, military intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov and deputy chief of the General Staff’s operational department, Yuri Zhigarlovsky.

Apart from Umerov, the Ukrainian delegation also reportedly includes Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, his deputy, Sergiy Kyslytsya, and Davyd Arakhamia, the parliamentary faction leader of Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party.

Last week, Trump declared that some kind of grand deal about European security was in the works, describing it as “a big agreement” that is “going to involve more than Ukraine.”

Kushner said Monday on X that a “comprehensive and lasting settlement will also require direct engagement between Russia and our European partners on the broader security arrangements that affect them.” The discussions in Abu Dhabi will set the stage for “that engagement to begin in the near future, as part of a broader multilateral process,” he said.

Moscow has praised the broad approach.

“We can only welcome the (U.S.) negotiators on President Donald Trump’s request proposing to put the issue of collective security on top of the agenda of the talks on a Ukrainian settlement,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

Just before Moscow launched the all-out invasion in 2022, it demanded that NATO roll back its deployments in the alliance’s member countries in Central and Eastern Europe, seeing their presence as a security threat. Similar demands will likely be part of any comprehensive peace deal proposed by Russia.

Kushner said that before the start of the three-way talks, he and Witkoff will meet separately with envoys from Ukraine, the European Union, NATO, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Italy to “continue the close consultation and coordination we have undertaken on European security and Ukraine’s postwar future over the past several weeks.”

Some in the EU see Washington's proposals as too accommodating to Moscow.

Russia has objected to the Europeans’ involvement in the three-way talks, but said that EU representatives could join at a later stage.

While the ground battles have morphed into a war of attrition along the 1,200-kilometer (about 750-mile) front line, Russia and Ukraine have ramped up their long-range strikes with drones and missiles.

Russia has intensified its air campaign against Ukraine’s power grid, seeking to weaken the country’s resolve as winter sets in. Moscow has relied on ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones, taking advantage of Ukraine’s shortage of U.S.-made Patriot interceptors.

Ukraine, meanwhile, has escalated its drone strikes on Russian oil refineries.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, right, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attend a press conference in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, chairs the Security Council meeting in Moscow, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (Alexei Babushkin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

First lady Melania Trump speaks as Russia's Commissioner for Human Rights Yana Lantratova, from left, Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, Davyd Arakhamia, lawmaker with President Zelenskyy's Servant of the People's party, and Russian Presidential Envoy Kirill Dmitriev listen during a meeting with Russian and Ukrainian representatives in the Grand Foyer of the White House, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Family members cry beside the coffins of police officers Dmytro Besedin, Mykhailo Buzhenko, Mykola Balanda and Mykhailo Romanov, killed in a Russian airstrike that destroyed an underground school, and Serhii Berezhko and Oleg Dubetskyi, killed in an FPV drone attack in Komyshuvakha, during a farewell ceremony on Khortytsia Island in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Crosses bearing the names of Viktor Fomenko, Natalia Karapetian and Andrii Anikin, killed in a Russian airstrike that destroyed an underground school in Komyshuvakha, lie in a cemetery in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)