VATICAN CITY (AP) — On Saturday, Pope Leo XIV outlined the vision for his papacy, highlighting artificial intelligence (AI) as a crucial challenge facing humanity and pledging to continue key priorities set by Pope Francis. Distinctively marking his own path, Leo made his first public visit since election to the Madonna sanctuary south of Rome, significant to his Augustinian order and his namesake, Pope Leo XIII. In Genazzano, townspeople gathered outside the Madre del Buon Consiglio sanctuary, a 15th-century pilgrimage site overseen by Augustinian friars and elevated to a minor basilica by Pope Leo XIII in the early 1900s. After praying, Leo addressed the crowd, emphasizing their gift and responsibility in hosting the Madonna, offered blessings, then stopped at St. Mary Major Basilica to pray at Francis’ tomb on the way back to the Vatican. This afternoon excursion followed Leo’s first formal audience with the cardinals who elected him. During the meeting, Leo repeatedly referenced Francis’ 2013 mission statement, affirming his commitment to making the Catholic Church more inclusive, attentive to the faithful, and caring for the “least and rejected. ” As the first American pope, he endorsed the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, spotlighting AI as a major issue impacting human dignity, justice, and labor. Hints about Leo’s future pontificate emerged: the Vatican disclosed he would maintain his bishop motto and coat of arms from Chiclayo, Peru, emphasizing church unity. The motto “In Illo uno unum, ” from St. Augustine’s sermon, signifies Christian unity in Christ, while the Augustinian emblem—a pierced flaming heart and a book—symbolizes scripture and devotion. Leo’s pectoral cross, a gift from the Augustinian order upon becoming cardinal in 2023, contains relics of St. Augustine and St.

Monica, pivotal figures in early Christianity and his order’s patron saints. Leo connected his name choice to Pope Leo XIII, who shaped modern Catholic social teaching through the 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, addressing workers’ rights and critiquing both laissez-faire capitalism and state socialism at the industrial revolution’s dawn. Leo said the church’s social teaching remains vital today amid another industrial revolution and AI’s challenges to dignity, justice, and labor. Toward his pontificate’s end, Francis increasingly warned of AI’s threats and advocated for international regulation. Francis regarded the Chicago-born Augustinian bishop Robert Prevost—Leo’s birth name—as an heir apparent. He appointed Prevost bishop of a Peruvian diocese in 2014, later head of Peru’s bishops conference, and called him to Rome in 2023 to oversee bishop nominations at the Vatican. During his speech in Italian at the Vatican’s synod hall, Leo frequently cited Francis and his death’s mourning, adopting Francis’ 2013 mission statement, “The Joy of the Gospel, ” as his own guiding principle. He echoed Francis’ emphasis on the church’s missionary role, advocating collegial leadership and attentiveness to authentic, inclusive popular piety. Leo stressed the church’s duty to care lovingly for the marginalized and engage courageously with the contemporary world. Elected as the 267th pope on Thursday in an unusually swift conclave—the largest and most geographically diverse ever—Prevost garnered reportedly over 100 of the 133 votes on the final ballot, far surpassing the two-thirds majority needed. He delivered his first public remarks with a prepared text, appearing most at ease speaking brief Spanish phrases spontaneously. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state and a leading papal contender, congratulated Leo in a letter published in Il Giornale di Vicenza. Parolin commended Leo’s understanding of current issues, recalling his inaugural call for “disarmed and disarming” peace. He praised Leo’s prior leadership in Chiclayo, his handling of delicate matters at the Vatican, and his qualities of calmness, balanced problem-solving, respect, care, and love for all.