UNESCO leader hails Pope’s stance on AI, commitment to peace
June 06, 2026
The director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) praised Pope Leo’s reflections on artificial intelligence and commitment to peace following a June 5 papal audience.
“Deeply honoured to be received by His Holiness Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, and grateful for his warm welcome,” Khaled El-Enany wrote in a social media post. “I thanked His Holiness @Pontifex for his strong voice in support of peace, human dignity, dialogue and multilateralism.”
El-Enany added:
His encyclical Magnifica Humanitas on “safeguarding the human person in the time of AI” resonates profoundly with @UNESCO ’s mission and with our guiding principle: #ForThePeople.
At a time when artificial intelligence is transforming our societies, His Holiness’s call to safeguard humanity, critical thinking and the search for truth echoes UNESCO’s work through our 2021 Recommendation on the Ethics of AI and our commitment to Media and Information Literacy.
UNESCO and the Holy See share a deep commitment to education, culture, science and ethics—to ensure that technology serves humanity and human rights, and that peace is built through dialogue, knowledge and human dignity.
Following the audience, El-Enany met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of His Holiness, and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations.
“During the cordial talks at the Secretariat of State, emphasis was given to the good relations between the Holy See and UNESCO, which the Holy Father is scheduled to visit in September as part of his Apostolic Journey to France,” the Holy See Press Office said in a statement, which concluded:
Discussions continued with a focus on the need to promote the integral development of the human person through education. The opportunities and challenges posed by artificial intelligence were also addressed. Above all, the importance of education in fostering dialogue among different cultures was reaffirmed as a privileged means of promoting peace, as well as the need to protect humanity’s cultural heritage.
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Further information:
- Holy See Press Office Press Release: Audience with the Director General of UNESCO (6/5/26)
- Social media post (X, @UNESCO_DG, 6/5/26)
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