“Opposed ideologies merge and an ideological colonization prevails, as humanity, in a world run by machines, is gradually diminished and social bonds are weakened,” he said. He said the 1907 novel “The Lord of the World,” by Robert Hugh Benson, “was to some degree prophetic in its description of a future dominated by technology, where everything is made bland and uniform in the name of progress, and a new ‘humanitarianism’ is proclaimed, canceling diversity, suppressing the distinctiveness of peoples and abolishing religion.” The pope in his speech also addressed the importance of culture, which he described as “the ‘cultivation’ of our humanity and its foundational relationships: with the transcendent, with society, with history, and with creation.”

The pope added that he did not want to encourage pessimism but to reflect on the “hubris of pride and power denounced at the dawn of European culture by the poet Homer, which the technocratic paradigm exacerbates, and threatens, through a certain use of algorithms, to further destabilize our human ecology.” “Living at a frenzied pace, prey to a ruthless capitalism, they become painfully conscious of their vulnerability in a society where outward speed goes hand in hand with inward fragility,” he said. Vatican Newsįor centuries this Catholic family has orchestrated Britain’s most Anglican royal events Read article

“This is a question that is proper to ask, particularly in this place, which is a center of research into information technology and the bionic sciences.” On April 30, 2023, the pope addressed around 250 people, including 30 students, from the Faculty of Information Technology and Bionics at the Pázmány Péter Catholic University in Budapest. “Can life retain its ‘living’ character?” the pope repeated. “A system of machines is engulfing life… Can life retain its living character in this system?” Guardini asked in one of the letters in his book. We arbitrarily fix our goals and force the mastered powers of nature to bring them to fulfillment.’”įrancis said Guardini “left posterity with a troubling question, ‘What will become of life if it is delivered up to the power of this dominion?’” We become inwardly devoid of form, proportion, and direction. The priest, he added, “foresaw a great threat: ‘ we lose all the inner contact that we might have derived from a sense of proportion and the following of natural forms. “Guardini did not demonize technology, which improves life and communication and brings many advantages, but he warned of the risk that it might end up controlling, if not dominating, our lives,” Pope Francis said. In his speech, Pope Francis made extensive reference to the 20th-century intellectual, Romano Guardini, a Catholic priest, theologian, and philosopher, and the author of the book “Letters from Lake Como: Explorations in Technology and the Human Race.”

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