Pope Leo XIV singled out the challenges of artificial intelligence as he took office this month, underscoring religious leaders’ hopes to influence a technology freighted with both vast hopes and apocalyptic fears.

The pope was cited by Protestant American Evangelical leaders who launched an open letter to President Donald Trump published Wednesday, calling for an “AI revolution accelerating responsibly” while warning of “potential perils.”

Leo XIV told cardinals on 10 May that he had taken his papal name in honor of Leo XIII (1878-1903). He had “addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution,” said the pope.

Today, “the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence,” he added.