“This phenomenon generates false images of reality, a climate of suspicion that foments hatred, undermines people’s sense of security and compromises the civil coexistence and stability of entire nations,” said the 88-year-old pontiff.
Francis regularly denounces fake news.
But his comments on Thursday came two days after tech giant Meta – which owns Facebook – announced it was ending its third-party fact-checking program in the US and moving to a model of crowdsourcing to control misinformation similar to that of Elon Musk. belonging to X.
In remarks to political leaders, the pope said: “In our time, the denial of obvious truths seems to have taken over. »
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“These trends can be amplified by modern means of communication and artificial intelligence; they can be misused to manipulate minds for economic, political and ideological purposes,” he added. Francis, who has been head of the global Catholic Church since 2013, stressed the need to media education to promote critical thinking.
He did not give the speech himself, saying he had a cold, but it was read on his behalf by a senior cleric.
In his speech, the pope also warned against “cancel culture”, which “tolerates no difference and focuses on individual rights to the detriment of duties towards others, especially the weakest”.
He called “particularly worrying” attempts to “manipulate multilateral documents – by changing the meaning of terms or unilaterally reinterpreting the content of human rights treaties – in order to promote divisive ideologies”.
“In this regard, it is unacceptable, for example, to speak of a so-called ‘right to abortion’ which contradicts human rights, in particular the right to life,” he said.
Francis also warned that multilateral institutions They were in danger of becoming “like-minded clubs admitting only those who think alike” – and as such they said they “no longer seemed capable of ensuring peace and stability “.