Pope Leo hopes to bring light to 'dark nights of this world'
Ailbhe Conneely Religion Correspondent reports from Rome where Pope Leo XIV has said his first mass since being elected and Augustinian Priest Fr Tony Finn reacts to his friend becoming the Pope.
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The Journal
a day ago
- The Journal
Irish Catholic bishops accuse Israel of ‘genocidal actions' and 'ethnic cleansing' in Gaza
IRISH CATHOLIC BISHOPS have accused the Israeli government of 'genocidal actions' and 'ethnic cleansing' in the Gaza Strip. In a statement today, the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference called for arms supplies to Israel to be 'cut off' and urged parishioners to lobby their local politicians. At Masses this weekend across Ireland parishioners will be invited to pray together for peace in Gaza and during the month of June, parishes are asked to express solidarity with Gaza. The Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference added that 'it seems clear that famine is being used as a weapon of war' in Gaza, where adequate aid is being denied. It noted that more than 600,000 Palestinians have been displaced since 7 October, 2023 and said that the 'evidence points to a staged strategy of ethnic cleansing aimed at removing the Palestinian people from their homeland'. 'It is becoming increasingly clear to people on the ground that these are genocidal actions sanctioned by the Government of Israel,' said the Bishops' Conference. It also described what is happening in Gaza and also the West Bank as 'unconscionable and disproportionate'. 'It is immoral for world leaders to stand by inactively in the face of this outrageous tragedy for humanity,' said the Bishops' Conference. It called for the international community to 'intervene' and to cut off arms supplies to Israel. The Bishops' Conference said such a move will require 'courage' from international leaders and added: 'Examples of courage are being given every day by heroic doctors, nurses and aid workers risking their lives in service of the wounded and those who have been displaced.' Advertisement The Bishops added that people in parishes across Ireland are 'horrified by what they are witnessing' and many feel helpless. They called on parishioners to lobby their political representatives, support humanitarian aid, and also to pray for an end to the conflict, including the return of all hostages and prisoners. The Bishops' Conference also recalled a message delivered from Pope Leo XIV during a recent general audience at the Vatican where he renewed a call for a ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and 'full respect for humanitarian law'. 'In the Gaza Strip, the cry of mothers, of fathers who clutch the lifeless bodies of children and who are continually forced to move in search of a little food and safer shelter from bombing, rises ever more intensely to the sky,' said Pope Leo. The Church and Palestine In 2015, the Vatican formally recognised the State of Palestine. Israel warned at the time that the move would have 'implications for future cooperation between Israel and the Vatican' and described it as a 'hasty step' that 'damages the prospects for advancing a peace agreement'. Meanwhile, the late Pope Francis described some of Israel's actions in Gaza as 'terrorism' in his memoir released in January. Francis daily called the Holy Family Church in Gaza and warned that the Church complex had 'become a theatre of death'. And in his final months, the late pope gave his blessing for a popemobile that had been used for a papal journey to the Middle East in 2014 to be converted into a health clinic for Gaza children. Popemobile being readied for its new use as a mobile health clinic for children in Gaza However, the aid blockade has meant the transformed vehicle has not yet been allowed access to Gaza. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Irish Examiner
a day ago
- Irish Examiner
Irish bishops accuse Israeli government of ‘genocidal actions' in Gaza
Irish bishops have accused the Israeli government of 'genocidal actions' and 'ethnic cleansing' in the Gaza Strip. The Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference called for arms supplies to Israel to be 'cut off' and urged parishioners to lobby their local politicians. It said that during the month of June, all parishes on the island of Ireland are being asked to express their solidarity with the suffering of Palestinians. What is happening in Gaza – and the West Bank – is the death of tens of thousands of non-combatants, many of them women and children 'In Gaza people are starving and adequate aid is being denied; it seems clear that famine is being used as a weapon of war. Already over 600,000 Palestinians have been displaced,' it said. 'The evidence points to a staged strategy of ethnic cleansing aimed at removing the Palestinian people from their homes and their homeland. 'It is becoming increasingly clear to people on the ground that these are genocidal actions sanctioned by the Government of Israel.' Israel's 20-month military campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 55,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry. The military operation has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population, often multiple times over. A two-and-a-half-month blockade imposed by Israel when it ended a ceasefire with Hamas have raised fears of famine and a new Israeli and US-backed aid system has been marred by chaos and violence. There is an urgent need for the international community to intervene, cut off arms supplies and bring the carnage to an end 'What is happening in Gaza – and the West Bank – is the death of tens of thousands of non-combatants, many of them women and children,' the Irish bishops said. 'This is unconscionable and disproportionate. It is immoral for world leaders to stand by inactively in the face of this outrageous tragedy for humanity.' The bishops urged people to lobby their political representatives, support humanitarian aid and to pray for the conflict to end. It added: 'There is an urgent need for the international community to intervene, cut off arms supplies and bring the carnage to an end. 'This will call for courage on the part of leaders. Examples of courage are being given every day by heroic doctors, nurses and aid workers risking their lives in service of the wounded and those who have been displaced.' The statement, issued on Friday, quoted Pope Leo XIV from a general audience he gave on May 28, where he said parents in the Gaza Strip 'clutch the lifeless bodies of children and who are continually forced to move in search of a little food and safer shelter from bombing'. 'I renew my appeal to the leaders: ceasefire, release all hostages, fully respect humanitarian law.' Israel launched its military operation in Gaza after Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 hostages on October 7 2023. The militants still hold 55 hostages — less than half of them believed to be alive — after more than half the captives were released during ceasefires or other deals. Read More Why is it so difficult to discuss genocide?
The Journal
6 days ago
- The Journal
Deepfakes of the pope are racking up millions of views on Youtube and Tiktok
IT BEGAN WITH the 'dope pope' meme featuring a deepfake Pope Francis in early 2013 – and it's continuing today with fake sermons attributed to the new pope, Leo XIV. Bogus videos and audio of the pope have been racking up millions of views, while dozens of YouTube and TikTok pages have been churning out AI-generated messages delivered in the new pope's voice. It comes despite the pontiff stating from the earliest days of his papacy that he wants to stand up to the challenges AI poses to 'human dignity, justice and labour'. Dope pope In April 2013, an image of Pope Francis in a white puffer jacket was uploaded onto X, formerly Twitter, and took the internet by storm. This deepfake image, and many others like it such as Francis in a nightclub or on a motorcycle, were created by now widely-available Artificial Intelligence tools. Graphic highlighting a few notable areas of a viral AI-generated of Pope Francis. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo And yes, Francis saw the images in question. He described such deepfakes as in his memoir as 'images and voices that seem perfectly real but are false'. In his memoir, he also hit out at the 'concentration and exaggerated monetisation' of social media and how it has become 'vulnerable to disinformation and the targeted distortion of facts'. He added that an 'information system based on social networks in the hands of extremely powerful oligarchs can only represent a further danger that we must keep an eye on'. Hospital bed While the 'dope pope' trend was benign, more nefarious ones would come Francis's way. When he was close to death after being hospitalised with bilateral pneumonia in February, fake images spread online of Francis in a hospital bed wearing a respirator mask. A computer-generated image that appears to show Pope Francis This image is known to be fake, not least because the laws of the Catholic Church ban such images of a pope on his sickbed. New pope's AI challenges Meanwhile, there appears to be no let up in AI-generated images and video when it comes to the new pope. With titles such as 'Pope Leo XIV Vision', online posts have portrayed the pontiff supposedly offering a flurry of warnings and lessons he has never preached. For example, a 36-minute long video was recently uploaded to YouTube on the account 'Pan African Dreams', in which viewers are led to believe that Leo delivered an entire public address to Burkina Faso's President Ibrahim Traoré. And while some of the videos are labelled as AI-generated, this disclaimer is often hard to find and overlooked by users. Advertisement On YouTube, a label demarcating 'altered or synthetic content' is required for material that makes someone appear to say something they did not. But such disclosures only appear toward the bottom of each video's click-to-open description. AI disclaimer at the very bottom of a click-to-open description on an AI-generated Pope Leo video YouTube YouTube TikTok also requires creators to label posts sharing realistic AI-generated content, but this appears as a small disclaimer at the bottom of the screen. AI-generated video of Pope Leo XIV, with AI disclaimer in the bottom left corner TikTok TikTok In the latter years of his papacy, Francis warned about the misuse of AI and in January he published a document on the 'relationship between artificial intelligence and human intelligence'. He said the 'concentration of the power over mainstream AI applications in the hands of a few powerful companies raises significant ethical concerns'. He also voiced concern that AI could lead to 'harmful isolation' and warned against 'anthropomorphising AI'. Meanwhile, Francis warned that AI in the workplace could 'subject workers to automated surveillance, and relegate them to rigid and repetitive tasks'. He also worried about AI in education and how it 'provide answers instead of prompting students to arrive at answers themselves', which can lead to a failure to develop critical thinking skills. 'This responsibility concerns everyone' This concern over AI has been picked up by his successor, Pope Leo, the first pontiff from the United States. In an address to Cardinals just two days after becoming pope , Leo said he chose this papal name 'mainly because of Pope Leo XIII's historic Encyclical Rerum Novarum, which addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution'. This document, a response to the state of industrial society in the late 19 th century, explicitly outlined worker's rights to a fair wage, safe working conditions and the right to belong to a trade union. Leo XIV told Cardinals that he sees himself 'called to continue in this same path' because today, there is 'another industrial revolution in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defence of human dignity, justice and labour'. Pope Leo XIV leads a Holy Mass for the beginning of his pontificate in St Peter's square on Sunday, 18 May Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo In an address to journalists a day later , Leo called on the news media to 'disarm communication of all prejudice and resentment, fanaticism and even hatred'. He added that the media's 'mission' of creating 'spaces for dialogue and discussion' is 'every more necessary' due to AI. 'Its immense potential requires responsibility and discernment in order to ensure that it can be used for the good of all, so that it can benefit all of humanity. 'This responsibility concerns everyone,' said Leo. Later that week, Leo met with the Vatican's diplomatic corps and he again called for people to be 'truthful' and 'ethical' in their use of AI. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
