“How many divisions does the Pope have?” the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin is said to have once asked disparagingly, and the remark is still repeated today in military terms. The Pope himself is experiencing his real political powerlessness in the most painful way in the face of the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. Francis is suffering physically from the deaths here and there, and he would like to see it all ended, regardless of who is to blame or who has what interests.
He has received a lot of criticism, incomprehension and even ridicule for this pacifist position. But he continues undeterred, just as the 87-year-old, as far as one can judge from the outside, is becoming less and less interested in whether his statements offend or not as he gets older. Nevertheless, his word still carries weight and it is fascinating to see how he has shaken up the G-7 summit in Apulia. The fact that he would be flying over from Rome by helicopter on Friday was one of the big topics of the summit from the start, and winning it was considered a “scoop”.
Italy overturns abortion rights from G-7 declaration
The Pope also served as a welcome justification for the Meloni camp for a small scandal that brought Meloni into conflict with the Frenchman Macron. As host, Meloni had prevented the clear commitment to the right to abortion and the associated health care from the pre-summit in Japan from being renewed in the final document. The Meloni camp said that the Pope could not be expected to make such a commitment if he had been invited, but it is clear that this commitment would not have been compatible with Meloni’s own convictions. When Macron regretted the absence of the clause, the Italian countered coolly that he hoped his colleague was not trying to campaign here.
The Pope, on the other hand, despite his poor health, always has a full schedule. In the Vatican he received around 100 comedians from all over the world that morning, including well-known US talk show hosts such as Jimmy Fallon and the actress Whoopi Goldberg, who played a fake nun in the “Sister Act” films. According to the Vatican, Michael Mittermeier, Hazel Brugger and Torsten Sträter were among those from German-speaking countries. The Pope joked around with the artists and paid them his respects: “In the midst of so much gloomy news, in the midst of so much social hardship, you have the power to spread cheerfulness and a smile,” said Francis before flying to Apulia, where he immediately began at least ten individual discussions at the highest level.
The Pope has no divisions, but he is the absolute head of a community that consists of 1.4 billion members, with strong growth rates in significant parts of the world, although not in Europe and especially not in Germany. The talks with the heads of state and government, on which the Vatican traditionally does not comment, were about wars, and Francis insisted on doing so, even though Meloni had assigned him a topic that at first glance seemed rather technical. The Pope was to speak about the opportunities and dangers of artificial intelligence. It is spreading rapidly around the world, intervening more and more in social processes at all levels, but politicians still have no plan on how to deal with it, let alone on an international level.
The Pope has been concerned with the issue for some time. When he put it prominently in his speech on the Catholic World Day of Peace on January 1, 2024, some wondered what this was all about, but it was well thought out. The Pope is concerned about ethical standards when AI takes over. He warns of a “technological dictatorship” and calls for an international agreement on the development and use of the new technology. In the G-7 round, Francis spoke of a “fascinating and at the same time sinister instrument” that will increasingly influence social relationships and even “our identity as human beings.” And of course one can also ask: What will become of faith – and of the church – in a world dominated by AI?