VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis met individually with several world leaders during the Group of Seven summit in southern Italy, including with U.S. President Joe Biden.
It was the first time a pope attended the annual summit, which brings the leaders of the world’s wealthiest nations together to discuss some of the most urgent current issues.
The June 13-15 summit focused on many topics, including migration, climate change and development in Africa, artificial intelligence, and the situations in the Middle East and Ukraine.
A White House press statement said President Biden and the pope talked about the need for an immediate ceasefire and humanitarian crisis in Gaza during their closed-door talks June 14.
The U.S. president also expressed “his deep appreciation for the Pope’s tireless advocacy for the poor and those suffering from persecution, the effects of climate change, and conflict around the world,” according to the White House.
The Vatican press office confirmed that the scheduled bilateral meetings took place June 14 and that each one lasted 10-15 minutes. However, it did not comment on Pope Francis’ encounters with the leaders.
A short video clip released to the press showed the U.S. president greeting the pope at the start of their private meeting and remarking immediately about what an impression the pope’s words made on his family when his son, Beau, died of cancer in 2015. The pope met with the Biden family just months after Beau’s death while finishing his visit to the United States.
Biden presented the pope with a large square ceramic dish with a reproduction of the fresco visible through the oculus of the dome of the U.S. Capitol’s rotunda depicting George Washington exalted in heaven. “It’s not the Vatican, but…,” Biden said as the interpreters laughed.
In a clip showing the end of the meeting, the pope said, “Pray for me. I pray for you.” The president replied, “I promise I do.”
In addition to the G7 members – the United States, Japan, Canada, Germany, France, Italy and Great Britain – the host nation, Italy, also invited a number of other heads of state, including the pope and the leaders of Ukraine, Argentina, India and Brazil. Russia had been a member of the group, but it was excluded in 2014 after it invaded eastern Ukraine and seized Crimea.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni greeted the pope, who arrived by helicopter June 14. The pope then held a series of private bilateral meetings for about one and a half hours on the sidelines of the summit before he delivered a speech on the benefits and dangers of artificial intelligence, and called on political leaders to help make sure AI technologies would always be at the service of humanity.
“We cannot allow a tool as powerful and indispensable as artificial intelligence to reinforce such a [technocratic] paradigm, but rather, we must make artificial intelligence a bulwark” against the threat, the pope said in his address to the world leaders.
“This is precisely where political action is urgently needed,” he said.
In a written communique summing up the G7 nations’ shared views and promises, the leaders said, “We are grateful for the presence of His Holiness Pope Francis and for his contribution.”
The pope departed after 8:30 p.m. local time to return to the Vatican.