Pope Leo criticizes the use of AI to spread ‘conflict, fear and violence’

Pope Leo XIV: ‘The world is being devastated by a handful of tyrants’ On the third day of his trip to Cameroon, Pope Leo ✅ Follow the g1 international news channel on WhatsApp In a speech at the Catholic University of Central Africa, in Yaoundé, the pontiff also criticized “the progressive replacement of reality by its simulation”, which leads people to live “in bubbles impermeable to each other”. “When simulation becomes the rule, (…) we live as if inside bubbles that are impermeable to each other and we feel threatened by anyone who is different,” he stated. “This is how polarization, conflicts, fears and violence spread. What is at stake is not a simple risk of error, but a transformation of the relationship with the truth itself,” he added. The statement comes amid criticism of Donald Trump’s use of AI-generated images for political purposes. After the Pope criticized the war in Iran, the President of the United States published, on Sunday (12), an image in which he appears as if he were Jesus Christ. The illustration was deleted the next day and generated a reaction among sectors of the American religious right. In recent days, Leo XIV has adopted a firmer tone, following criticism from Trump. On Thursday (16), he denounced “the harm caused from outside” by those who exploit resources on the African continent. “The world is being devastated by a handful of tyrants, but it is held together by a multitude of brothers and sisters in solidarity!” said the pope in Bamenda, a region marked by separatist conflict. Mission in Africa Pope Leo XIV arrives to celebrate a mass for peace and justice at Bamenda airport, in Cameroon, on April 16, 2026 REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane In the morning, the pope celebrated an open-air mass in Douala, in intense heat, on the shores of the Gulf of Guinea. More than 120,000 people participated — a number below the government’s estimate of up to 1 million. “Long live the Pope!” shouted faithful at the Japoma Stadium, with Vatican flags and chants accompanied by percussion. In a speech, he asked young people to “serve the country” instead of emigrating. “Africa needs to free itself from the scourge of corruption,” he said. The pontiff also criticized “the dark side of the environmental and social devastation caused by the frantic search for raw materials and rare earths.” According to him, Africa pays a high price for the extraction of cobalt, essential for computer servers. The sector is largely dominated by foreign powers, with China at the forefront. After the celebration, the pontiff visited patients at a Catholic hospital in Douala and headed to Yaoundé. The trip to the country ends on Saturday (18). The pope arrived in Cameroon after visiting Algeria and will continue his trip through Angola and Equatorial Guinea until April 23. VIDEOS: most watched on g1

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