The newly elected Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Robert F. Prevost from the USA, appears on the balcony of the Basilica of St. Piotr in the Vatican, May 8, 2025.
Dylan Martinez Reuters
Pope Leo XIV He said on Saturday that he partly chose his name to commemorate Pope Leo XIII For commitment to social issues and employees' rights during the industrial revolution.
Cardinal Robert Prevost He was elected Ptyff on May 8 and said that the world is now in the face of new obstacles to the rights of workers – and humanity more widely – due to development Artificial intelligence.
“In our time, the Church offers all the Treasury of Social Teaching in response to another industrial revolution and development in the field of artificial intelligence, which pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice and work,” said Leo.
Leo's comments provided one of the earliest signs of his vision of leadership and priorities as a boss Catholic Church.
Leo also suggested during the first meeting with cardinals since the election that he was going too late Pope Francis“Keep his involvement in social justice.
“He was clearly seen in the example of so many of my predecessors, and recently by Pope Francis himself, with his example of complete sacrifice in service and sober simplicity of life, his abandonment of God throughout the service and his calm trust at the time of his return to his father's house,” he said.
Francis, who for 12 years was a pope, often gained criticism of conservative cardinals who said that he was watering the doctrine of the Church in matters such as LGBT Catholics and women's leadership.
Leo XIII, a partial inspiration for the name of the new Pope, was elected in 1878. He was an outstanding figure in the social teaching of the Catholic Church, especially surrounding employees' rights and a working class.
Leo is the first American Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.
Reuters contributed to this report.