Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, says employment is a critical issue facing the Church, governments and people. Source: CNS.
Cardinal Czerny said that when Cardinal Robert F. Prevost was elected pope and chose the name Leo XIV, “I rejoiced, I really rejoiced”.
The new Pope said he chose his name in homage to Pope Leo XIII, often referred to as “the father of Catholic social teaching,” recognising that the Church’s social doctrine needs to be renewed to respond to the new industrial revolution, including the development of artificial intelligence, which poses “new challenges for the defence of human dignity, justice and labour.”
“The issue of work is of vital importance to the vast majority of people on the planet” and Pope Leo has made it clear that it is an issue important to him as well, Cardinal Czerny said.
People all over the globe, he said, are asking themselves how they can survive and thrive and support their families when decent, fulfilling jobs are becoming more difficult to find.
“Society doesn’t seem to be even remotely ready to face this problem – just keep discarding the workers and applauding AI for its innovations,” Cardinal Czerny said.
But AI is just one example, he said. “Climate change, human rights violations, war, environmental degradation: they all contribute to the same result, which is the destruction of jobs, the elimination of jobs and the increasing difficulty of earning one’s living,” he said.
“It is a huge and threatening problem and I’m very glad that Pope Leo has signalled how much the Church cares about this, how engaged the Church promises to be with this issue, which touches the very essence of what it means to be human, the essence of human dignity and not only the quality of life, but the very possibility of living together in harmony and also living a decent life, a dignified human life.”
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With jobs disappearing, cardinal says he ‘rejoiced’ at Pope’s name choice (By Cindy Wooden, CNS)
