Pontifical Academy for Life will address tech advances and environment, its president says
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Pontifical Academy for Life will address tech advances and environment, its president says
Monsignor Renzo Pegoraro is the new president of the Pontifical Academy for Life. He says the Church has plans to address a number of pressing matters surrounding human dignity. These include artificial intelligence (AI), health systems, and the environment. The academy will organize an international meeting in Rome in November on “AI and Medicine: The Challenge of Human Dignity” The conference will “confront the changes introduced by AI” and “enhance the ‘Rome Call for AI Ethics,’” a 2020 document that lays the foundations for an ethical use of AI. The Church “will address the sustainability of health systems in February 2026, with examples from five continents and detailed studies,” he said. “All facets of society” must be involved in the “debate” regarding technology, he said, adding that “we must never forget that the needs of the person who is sick and in need of help are the priority”
The new president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Monsignor Renzo Pegoraro, says the Church has plans to address a number of pressing matters surrounding human dignity, including artificial intelligence (AI), health systems, and the environment.
When Pegoraro stepped into his new role, he said Pope Leo XIV recommended the academy continue a dialogue “with experts from various disciplines on the challenges facing humanity on the theme of life and the quality of life in different contexts.”
The academy will also continue its focus on “issues related to the beginning and end of life as well as environmental sustainability, equity in health care systems, the right to care, health, and essential services.”
In an interview with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Catholic News Service, Pegoraro said as “we live in a difficult landscape … and human life on the planet is truly challenged,” the Catholic Church “has a wealth of wisdom and a vision to serve everyone in order to make the world a better and more livable place.”
Technology and AI
Pegoraro said that “all facets of society” must be involved in the “debate” regarding technology.
“Really, everything can be addressed if all of society — policymakers, governments, the Church, different organizations — put the issue of the use of technology at the forefront,“ Pegoraro said. “And the media also have a very important role in disseminating information and subject matter on this.”
As AI advances at fast rates, Pegoraro said, the Pontifical Academy for Life “can make an important contribution to the development of the papal magisterium, in line with all the dicasteries.”
The academy, with Catholic Physicians Throughout the World, will organize an international meeting in Rome in November on “AI and Medicine: The Challenge of Human Dignity.” The conference will “confront the changes introduced by AI” and “enhance the ‘Rome Call for AI Ethics,’” a 2020 document that lays the foundations for an ethical use of AI.
The progress of AI and robotics, especially in the health field, is “extraordinary,” but “we must never forget that the needs of the person who is sick and in need of help are the priority,” Pegoraro said.
Health systems
Pegoraro shared that the Church “will address the sustainability of health systems in February 2026, with examples from five continents and detailed studies.”
Leaders will ensure that “ethical framework” will be a theme at the international congress.
“We want to end up with a strong call to understand that ‘health’ and health systems must provide answers centered on life in all contexts, in all social and political realms,” Pegoraro said.
“In addition to scientific knowledge, there is a need for an ethical point of view and an awareness of the questions that come from patients, from those who are sick.”
Pegoraro highlighted the importance of supporting the sick through end-of-life care. The academy “promotes palliative care, always and especially in the final and fragile phases of life, always asking that there be attention to and respect for the protection and dignity of people who are frail.”
When asked about “aggressive treatment and the requirement to provide food and hydration to individuals in a vegetative state,” Pegoraro said it is “very complex.” But, he said, “we need to understand how to interpret treatments so that they may support and care for sick people.”
“Every situation is to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis so that they support the sick person and are not a source of further suffering,” Pegoraro said. “There are no ready-made solutions; instead, an approach of constant dialogue between doctor, patient, and family members must be fostered.”
Most urgent matters
According to Pegoraro, the most urgent bioethical and AI-related issue to tackle is “data management, its use, and storage, the objectives of the so-called ‘Big Companies,’” including Google, Apple, Facebook, and others.
“The topic of human life must be posed by looking at all dimensions of its development, at different social and political contexts, at its connection with respect for the environment, and by scrutinizing how technologies either help us live more fully and better or [hurt us by] providing terrible tools for control and manipulation.”
The topic of data is key, because “today, the wealth of big industries is the data we ourselves put on the internet,” Pegoraro said.
“We need a public debate on a global scale,” he said, “a grand coalition aimed at the respect of data … The framework is clear and Pope Francis gave it to us with Fratelli Tutti, expanding on Vatican II: We are one human family, and the issues of development and life affect every one of us.”