Overview
- Pope Leone XIV, speaking at Sapienza University on Thursday, said recent military build-ups in Europe should not be called defense because they raise tensions and drain money from schools and health care.
- He warned that artificial intelligence used in war or civilian life can strip people of responsibility and worsen conflicts if it guides key choices.
- Addressing student stress and a culture of rankings, he said, “We are a desire, not an algorithm,” urging a view of education that forms conscience rather than only job skills.
- He invoked Article 11 of Italy’s Constitution, which rejects war, to ground his peace appeal in national law and to press the Vatican’s case in Europe’s debate over rising defense budgets.
- He praised a Sapienza–Church corridor that helps students from Gaza keep studying, calling it a concrete model of how universities protect learning during war.