Pope Leo ​on Monday (September 28, 2026) said concerns that artificial intelligence could destroy the ‌world are not “fake news” and should ​be taken seriously, in an apparent ⁠rebuke of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The first U.S. pope, who has warned of the dangers of AI throughout ‌his 16-month papacy, also directly criticized technology CEOs who argued there should be ‌no guardrails on the technology.

“I do think ‌that ⁠the concerns raised by many of ⁠the experts, specialists in AI, should be taken seriously,” the pontiff said in a press conference on his flight back ​to Rome after ‌a four-day trip to France. “I don’t think that that is fake news, as some have said.”

Mr. Trump told the U.N. General Assembly last week ‌that he believed fears about the dangers ​to humanity from AI were a “hoax.”

The pope said he had read on ⁠Monday (September 28) that the head of chipmaker Nvidia had announced there could be a way to insert guardrails ‌into certain AI models. But Pope Leo expressed scepticism, adding: “He’s the same one, however, that says there should be no limits placed and no government regulation.”

Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang told CBS News this month that he agreed ‌with Mr. Trump that safety concerns about AI were overblown.

Pope Leo urged ​the world “to promote dialogue, study, investigate, to find ways to make sure that ⁠AI does not get to a point where it ⁠could destroy humanity.”

“I think that there are enough people seriously interested in that … ‌but we have to keep working,” said the Pope. “We can’t just sit back and pretend ​nothing’s going to happen.”

Pope Leo XIV called on the international community on Sunday (August 23, 2026) to help contain the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which health officials warn is spreading exponentially.

“In my prayers I often remember the Democratic Republic of the Congo, especially because of the spread of the Ebola epidemic, which unfortunately is causing many victims,” said the Pope following his Angelus prayer in St Peter’s Square.

“I encourage a response from the international community that also involves local communities in efforts to save many human lives,” added the Pope, who visited Africa in April.

The deadliest Ebola outbreak in the DRC’s history has already killed thousands of people, hitting regions in the north and east where the presence of the state is weak, health infrastructure is largely lacking and numerous armed groups have sown decades of violence.

Pope Leo also expressed his closeness to those in the Central African Republic “who mourn the victims of the collapse that occurred in a mine in Zamboye”.

The landslide on Tuesday (August 18) at a gold mine near the Cameroonian border killed dozens of people, with many still missing and likely buried beneath the rubble.

“May the Lord welcome all those who lost their lives, and support efforts to guarantee the safety and legality of mining sites,” said the Pope.

Closer to home, Pope Leo also cited the 10th anniversary on Monday of a major earthquake in central Italy that killed around 300 people and devastated the city of Amatrice.

“I pray for the deceased and for their families, and for all the communities involved,” he said.

More than 1.2 million people filled the streets of Madrid on Sunday (June 7, 2026) for a mass by Pope Leo XIV at which he called for a renewal of the Catholic faith in Spain.

King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia joined throngs of devotees waving Spanish and Vatican flags in Cibeles Square for a service filled with religious symbolism.

In his homily, Pope Leo said Spaniards should not look at religion as “a museum of the past to be visited, but a school of faith from which to draw even today”.

The mass comes on day two of Pope Leo’s seven-day visit to Spain, a traditional Catholic bastion where religious observance has been declining sharply in recent years as in much of western Europe.

A huge logistical and security operation was in place for the event, after which the pope led a traditional procession along a route lined with white and yellow carnations — the Vatican flag colours.

Organisers said there were more than 1.2 million people attending in the square and the surrounding area.

Nico Aldeanueva, 28, who was visiting from Philadelphia in the United States, said the pope was “a very unifying force in a moment where we have division across so many different fronts”.

“We have, it seems like, never-ending conflict and for the time being here you get to hit pause and get to enjoy the moment and feel the faith.”

Ana Milagros, 64, who was waving a Vatican flag, said she thought the US-born pope seemed “approachable” and “very sincere”.

“There is a lot of polarisation and differences in politics, in social matters, in the economy,” she said, adding: “The pope is trying with this visit… to help all of us.”

Priests attend a Mass presided over by Pope Leo XIV, marking the Catholic feast of Corpus Christi at Plaza de Cibeles in Madrid, Spain, on June 7, 2026, on the second day of his seven-day apostolic visit to mainland Spain and the Canary Islands.
| Photo Credit:
AP

Focus on migration

Later on Sunday (June 7, 2026), Pope Leo will meet the leading lights of culture, sport and the economy at an arena, with the aim of fostering dialogue between faith and modern civil society.

Around 56% of Spaniards identify as Catholic compared to 90% in the 1970s, according to a survey last month by the Centre for Sociological Research, an autonomous government body.

On Saturday (June 6, 2026), 5,00,000 mostly young attendees congregated with Leo outside Real Madrid’s Bernabeu stadium for a prayer vigil that stretched into the night.

Pope Leo kicked off his visit with pomp and ceremony at a reception in Madrid’s royal palace, where he called for an end to “polarising narratives” and “sterile simplifications”.

The pope also praised Spain, whose left-wing government has sparred with his native United States as well as Israel over wars in the Middle East, for its “active commitment to peace and solidarity among peoples”.

He is due to visit Barcelona on Tuesday and Wednesday, where he will notably bless the Sagrada Familia basilica’s recently completed tower, which made it the world’s tallest church.

His trip will end with a focus on migration on Thursday and Friday in the Canary Islands, a key destination for irregular arrivals, with thousands dying in the Atlantic Ocean trying to reach them.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, arrived at the Vatican on Monday (April 27, 2026) for an audience with Pope Leo XIV, making her first foreign visit since being installed as the first woman leader of the Church of England and spiritual leader of millions of Anglicans around the world.

Archbishop Mullally, whose appointment has split the already divided Anglican Communion, arrived early to meet with Pope Leo in his library. Later, they were to go to into the Urban VIII Chapel inside the Apostolic palace for what the Vatican said would be a “moment of prayer.”

U.S. President Donald Trump posted an image of Jesus embracing ‌him on Wednesday (April 15, 2026), as a war of words between his administration and the Pope ​showed little sign of abating.

The image, reposted to Mr. Trump’s Truth Social account, shows Mr. Trump with ⁠his eyes closed, touching temple-to-temple with a similarly posed Jesus. Mr. Trump is standing behind a microphone, and behind him is an American flag. The original post had a caption that included the words: “God might be playing his Trump card!”

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday (March 29, 2026) rejected claims that God justifies war and prayed especially for Christians in the Middle East during a Palm Sunday Mass before tens of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square.

With the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran entering its second month and Russia’s ongoing campaign in Ukraine, Leo dedicated his Palm Sunday homily to insisting that God is the “king of peace” who rejects violence and comforts those who are oppressed.

“Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,” Pope Leo said. “He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.” Leaders on all sides of the Iran war have used religion to justify their actions. U.S. officials, especially Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, have invoked their Christian faith to cast the war as a Christian nation trying to vanquish its foes with military might.

Russia’s Orthodox Church, too, has justified Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a “holy war” against a Western world it considers has fallen into evil.

Palm Sunday marks Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem in the time leading up to his crucifixion, which Christians observe on Good Friday, and resurrection on Easter Sunday.

In a special blessing at the end of Mass, Pope Leo said he was praying especially for Christians in the Middle East who are “suffering the consequences of an atrocious conflict. In many cases, they cannot live the rites of these holy days.” Earlier Sunday, the Latin Patriarchate said Jerusalem police prevented the Catholic church’s top leadership from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It was the first time in centuries that church leaders were prevented from celebrating Palm Sunday at the place where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, the Patriarchate said.

Pope Leo said that during Holy Week, Christians cannot forget how many people around the world are suffering as Christ did. “Their trials appeal to the conscience of all. Let us raise our prayers to the Prince of Peace so that he may support people wounded by war and open concrete paths of reconciliation and peace,” Pope Leo said.

A Holy Week that recalls Pope Francis’ suffering

When Holy Week opened last year, Pope Francis was still recovering at the Vatican after a five-week hospital stay for double pneumonia. He had delegated the liturgical celebrations to others, but rallied on Easter Sunday to greet the faithful from the loggia of St. Peter’s Square. Most poignantly, he then made what became his final popemobile loop around the piazza.

Pope Francis died the following morning, Easter Monday, after suffering a stroke. His nurse, Massimiliano Strappetti, later told Vatican Media that Francis had told him: “Thank you for bringing me back to the square” for the final salute.

Pope Leo is due to preside over this week’s liturgical appointments and is returning to tradition with the Holy Thursday foot-washing ceremony that commemorates Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples.

During his 12-year pontificate,Pope Francis famously celebrated the Holy Thursday ritual by travelling to Rome-area prisons and refugee centres to wash the feet of people on society’s margins. His aim was to drive home the ritual’s message of service and humility, and he would frequently muse during his Holy Thursday homilies, “Why them and not me?” Pope Francis’ gesture had been praised as a tangible evidence of his belief that the church must go to the peripheries to find those most in need of God’s love and mercy. But some critics bristled at the annual outings, especially since Francis would also wash the feet of Muslims and people of other faiths.

Leo restores Holy Week foot-washing tradition

Pope Leo, history’s first U.S.-born Pope, is returning the Holy Thursday foot-washing tradition to the basilica of St. John Lateran, where popes performed it for decades. The Vatican hasn’t yet said who will participate, though Popes Benedict XVI and John Paul II normally washed the feet of 12 priests.

On Friday, Pope Leo is due to preside over the Good Friday procession at Rome’s Colosseum commemorating Christ’s Passion and crucifixion. Saturday brings the late-night Easter Vigil, during which Leo will baptise new Catholics, followed a few hours later by Easter Sunday, when Christians commemorate the resurrection of Jesus.

Pope Leo will celebrate Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square and then deliver his Easter blessing from the loggia of the basilica.

Pope Leo lamented a world “in flames” due to ​wars and the destruction of the environment during an ‌Ash Wednesday Mass, opening the season of ​Lent for the world’s Christians.

Before ⁠sprinkling ashes on the heads of participants, a sign of mortality, the pope said the ashes could ‌represent “the weight of a world that is ablaze, of entire cities destroyed ‌by war”.

He also told participants the ashes ‌could ⁠signify “the ashes of international law and justice ⁠among peoples, (and) the ashes of entire ecosystems”.

“It is so easy to feel powerless in the face of a ​world that is in ‌flames,” said Leo, the first U.S. Pope.

Lent is a 40-day period of penance that leads to Easter, the most important Christian ‌holiday, which celebrates the day on which ​believers say Jesus rose from the dead.

It represents the 40 days ⁠Jesus is said in the Bible to have spent fasting in the desert. During the ‌season, Catholics are asked to fast, remember the needy and reflect on mortality.

Pope Leo, elected leader of the 1.4-billion-member Church in May to replace the late Pope Francis, did not mention a specific conflict in his remarks. The ‌pope has forcefully decried the world’s ongoing wars ​in his first year and denounced what he called a global “zeal for war” in ⁠a major foreign policy speech last month.

He spoke ⁠on Wednesday (February 18, 2026) at a service held in the Basilica of Santa Sabina on ‌Rome’s Aventine Hill, preceded by prayers in a nearby church and a procession ​of cardinals and bishops.

Pope Leo met Venezuelan ​opposition leader and Nobel peace prize ‌winner Maria Corina Machado ​on Monday (January 12, 2026), the Vatican said, but did not provide any further details.

The meeting, listed among the Pope’s appointments for Monday in a daily Vatican statement, ​had not been included in ⁠an earlier advisory to the press about Pope Leo’s planned schedule for the day.

Leo, the ​first U.S. ⁠Pope, has called for Venezuela to remain an independent country after the capture by U.S. ‌forces of Venezuelan President Nicolas ‌Maduro on the orders of President Donald Trump.

In a major ‍foreign policy speech on Friday, the Pope decried the use of ‍military force as a means of achieving diplomatic goals and called for human rights to be protected in Venezuela.

Ms. Machado, a former National Assembly member, was barred from running in Venezuela’s 2024 general election ⁠by authorities aligned with Mr. Maduro.

She backed a stand-in candidate ​who was widely considered to have ⁠won the vote, although Mr. Maduro claimed victory. Ballot audits by independent observers showed irregularities in the official results.