Pope Leo XIV Warns France Against Turning Science Into Business

Pope Leo XIV Warns France Against Turning Science Into Business
Speaking at the Élysée Palace during a four-day visit to France, Pope Leo XIV set technological advancement against what he described as the commercialisation of human life. He did not reject science or innovation outright; rather, he argued that their value depends on whether they remain accountable to ethical limits and the common good.

The pope said he was concerned by social trends that could turn science and technology into “profit-driven enterprises,” citing genetic manipulation, surrogacy, trafficking in human organs and “the possibility of arranging one’s own death.” In his view, these issues belong to a broader duty of society: “respect for one another and the protection of all human life is a duty incumbent on each and every one of us.”

That stance places the Vatican at odds with policies reported as newly legalised in France on assisted dying and euthanasia, both of which Catholic teaching opposes. The visit therefore brought the pope’s defence of life into a French debate where individual choice at the end of life has become a central political question.

Leo also used the address to challenge a narrower reading of laïcité, France’s principle of separation between church and state. He argued that “authentic secularism” should not push religion out of public life or education, but allow the state and religious institutions to maintain dialogue and work together for the common good. Macron, for his part, described France as a country shaped by freedom, intellect, diversity and sustained debate.

The pope extended the same ethical argument to artificial intelligence, warning against a “machine paradise” in which people surrender responsibility. His position was that technical progress should preserve human freedom rather than concentrate power or weaken moral agency.

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