Pope Francis’ pontificate emphasizes global Catholicism’s emancipation from Western dominance while navigating complex relationships with emerging churches in the global South. His participation in the G7 Summit and comments on AI and comedy highlighted this dynamic balance.
The single most important move by Pope Francis’ pontificate has been to proclaim the emancipation of global Catholicism from the dominance of European and Western historical, political, and theological narratives. At the same time, this move has gone through different phases and emphases. What happened on June 14 said something significant about the Vatican’s relationship with the West and the societal models, shared cultures, and political systems in which Catholicism lives.
From a political point of view, the most important event of that day was Francis’ participation – the first time for a pope – in the G7 Summit hosted by the right-wing Italian government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The pope of the “Church for the poor” had to fly to Borgo Egnazia, a faux-medieval town constructed as a luxury resort with suites at 2,000 euros per night, to meet with the heads of governments of the richest nations in the world and the non-members who were invited to attend. He had bilateral meetings with some of those present at the meeting of the institution that represents the dominance of the Western constitutional and economic model on the world. However, the first reason for his presence at the G7 was to deliver an address about AI (Artificial Intelligence).
Apparent reduction in the significance of the concept of human dignity
In a carefully scripted speech (where Francis stuck to the text and did not improvise) on the opportunities and risks of AI, the pope talked about “the season of technological innovation in which we are currently living.” He offered a very interesting passage on the relationship between the possibilities to control technology and Western culture: “Aside from the complexity of legitimate points of view found within the human family, there is also a factor emerging that seems to characterize the above-mentioned social situation, namely, a loss, or at least an eclipse, of the sense of what is human and an apparent reduction in the significance of the concept of human dignity. Indeed, we seem to be losing the value and profound meaning of one of the fundamental concepts of the West: that of the human person. Thus, at a time when artificial intelligence programs are examining human beings and their actions, it is precisely the ethos concerning the understanding of the value and dignity of the human person that is most at risk in the implementation and development of these systems” (emphasis mine).
Even more interesting, although less direct, was Francis’ reference to Western culture in his speech earlier that same day, when he addressed a group of some 200 comedians from all over the world (many of them from Italy and the United States), who came to the Vatican in an event organized by the Roman Curia Dicastery for Culture and Education and the Dicastery for Communication. Near the conclusion of his address, Francis said: “Can we laugh at God? Of course, we can, just as we play and joke with the people we love. The Jewish wisdom and literary tradition is a master in this! It is possible to do this without offending the religious sentiments of believers, especially the poor.”
Catholicism and contemporary culture and politics
Whether giving a soul to AI or describing the role of comedy and laughter to interpret and interact with reality, Pope Francis was operating implicitly within a Western framework: the philosophical and theological idea of the irreducible uniqueness of every human person and the assumption that religious and political authorities allow a freedom of expression that includes irony when talking about God – which means being able to smile and make others smile at everything.
Here, we see one of the great paradoxes of Francis’ pontificate. He has spoken often and forcefully against the “ideological colonization” of the world by the European and Western economic and cultural powers and in favor of local inculturation. At the same time, even in Francis’ criticism of the West, there is an underlying need to defend the Western roots of Christian humanism and, indirectly also, some values of the Enlightenment necessary for the Church’s advocacy of social justice and human rights. It is an attachment to Western culture that is certainly different from Benedict XVI’s “Regensburg speech” of 2006. It is an idea of the West that differs from the liberal and neo-liberal ones but also from the illiberal and integralist versions of the relationship between Catholicism and contemporary culture and politics.
Coming to terms with the freedom of thought and expression
Nevertheless, it has a strong connection with Western culture. It is impossible to imagine what Francis said on June 14 outside a liberal-democratic system: about AI, the role of “healthy politics […] capable of overseeing this process”, and the role of laughter “contributing to building a shared culture and creating spaces of freedom.” Political, religious, or political-religious tyrannies always had a difficult relationship, to say the least, with the language of comedy, humor, and irony. As Francis reminded his guests: “You denounce abuses of power; you give voice to forgotten situations; you highlight abuses; you point out inappropriate behavior. You do this without spreading alarm or terror, anxiety or fear, as other types of communication tend to do; you rouse people to think critically by making them laugh and smile.” Francis’ comments on AI and the role of comedy were also an indirect but clear statement against theocracy, fundamentalism, illiberal democracy, authoritarian populism, and different forms of constitutional retrogression and democratic backsliding. The papacy itself came to terms with the freedom of thought and expression necessary in a long historical process. Still, there seems to be something in its DNA from ancient Rome — the interrelated cultures of “Greek” and “Roman” laughter cultures in the Roman Empire.
Complex relationship with emerging Catholic Churches
On the roots of the West and its destiny, there is a historical and political debate that today crosses the entire occidental world, including the Anglo-American space. Religion is always there – as an invited or uninvited guest. Francis’ teaching and the diplomatic activity of the Holy See tell us that there is a deep-seated inseparability between the Vatican’s view of the future of the Church and the Western world. Rome must continuously navigate a very complex relationship with emerging Catholic Churches in countries of the “global South.” They come from histories of interactions between religion, politics, and culture outside Europe and the Americas that are essentially different from the one in which the Vatican learned about modernity over the last 250 years.
But there is also a short-term issue: since the beginning of Pope Francis’ pontificate 11 years ago, the international situation has deteriorated: the political (and possibly constitutional) crisis in the United States, the intractable wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and the neo-imperial challenges from Russia and China. The papal speeches of June 14, 2024, were not about recreating an impossible ideological unity of Catholicism behind a Euro-American leadership of the global world. They were a reminder to Catholics and the West that they both need each other – maybe more than they are willing to admit.
Reproduced with permission from La Croix International.
