5 times Pope Francis impacted the tech world

On Monday morning, the world lost the leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis, who died at the age of 88 following a protracted illness. According to The Vatican, the pontiff passed away on Easter Monday at his residence in the Casa Santa Marta in Vatican City.

Camerlengo of the Apostolic Chamber, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who announced the passing, said it comes hours after he greeted the Catholic faithful who were at the Vatican on Sunday for the Easter mass. 

The announcement by Cardinal Farrel reads:

“Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow, I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis. At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father.“

Pope Francis’ health was already failing before his demise. He was admitted to a hospital on Friday, February 14, 2025, after suffering from bouts of bronchitis for several days. Pope Francis’ clinical situation gradually worsened, and his doctors diagnosed bilateral pneumonia on Tuesday, February 18.

Following periods of recovery at the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital, where he spent 38 days, the late Pope returned to his Vatican residence at the Casa Santa Marta to continue his recovery.

Pope Francis and the tech world 

On several occasions, Pope Francis has been instrumental in discussions and innovations in the world of technology. As these spur relevant conversations and impact during his lifetime, this article looks into five times these tech debates have been manifested through the popular religious leader.

Holy Year: The Vatican AI service

In December 2024, under Pope Francis, the Vatican launched an Artificial Intelligence-enabled service for St Peter’s Basilica, which will allow citizens and tourists to have virtual access to the ancient church’s Renaissance-era architectural treasures. This innovation was introduced as part of the Holy Year.

In building the AI model, the church collaborated with the big tech company, Microsoft, and Iconem, a company that specialises in heritage site digitalisation. The Vatican launched a new interactive website, a digital replica of the basilica, and two AI-enabled exhibitions. On record, about 40,000-50,000 people visit the Basilica daily.

A 3D model of St. Peter’s was built by scanning the basilica using drones, cameras, and lasers. AI algorithms pieced together, elaborated, and completed the data. Drones flew at night for 4 weeks, taking over 400,000 photographs and collecting the equivalent of a 6 km-high column of DVDS in data. All these data, put together, will also be instrumental in the preservation and restoration of the project.

During the unveiling, Pope Francis acknowledged that AI can broaden access to knowledge but warned that it must only be used in an ethical way that benefits humanity.

“The correct and constructive use of (AI’s) potential, which is certainly useful but can be ambivalent, depends on us,” he said.

With the Catholic Church’s Jubilee celebrations set to begin on December 24, 2025, and end on January 6, 2026, the new experiences would be a significant part of the 2025 Holy Year preparation, which occurs around every 25 years in a century.  

Popemobile: battery-powered G-wagon

In another tech landmark towards the Holy Year, an “open-top” popemobile – an all-electric Mercedes-Benz was unveiled in December 2024. The battery-powered G-Wagon, manufactured by Mercedes, was specifically designed for Pope Francis. 

The electric car is a renewed version of the Mercedes G-Class mid-size luxury SUV, featuring a more elevated seat for Pope Francis, which enables the crowd to have a better view of the Pope. The popemobile also featured a grab bar, which helped Pope Francis maintain balance when standing in the vehicle. It comes in white colour, which signifies the traditional papal colour.

For the Mercedes-Benz Group, they saw the move as a branding avenue following struggles to sell their electric cars in a competitive market. Mercedes officials have now termed the new vehicle “the first all-electric popemobile”, even though Francis has previously used electric cars on his foreign trips. With Pope Francis now deceased, the plan to land a heavenly endorsement for the product has been hit by heartbreak.

Meanwhile, Mercedes has supplied special vehicles for the Pope for nearly a century, including the first bulletproof version in 1981, which was introduced after an assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II the previous year. 

Pope Francis was meant to fully showcase the electric car when he greets pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square during the Holy Year celebration at the end of the year.

AI-generated image: Pope Francis in a swagged-out puffy jacket, a Basketball player

In a humorous and twisting turn, Pope Francis has been showcased in AI-generated images that were almost realistic, which generated viral trends.

In April 2023, Pope Francis was depicted in an AI-generated image of him playing basketball. No evidence has proved that Pope has ever played basketball throughout his life, although he was an ardent football fan. The prominent religious figure has, however, met several basketball stars.

While the pictures were believed to be real at first, it was later realised that the photos were AI-generated. Considering the fact that they looked very realistic, it was no surprise that some people believed they were real.

In another viral post in March 2023, an image of Pope Francis in a swagged-out puffy jacket emerged on social media, sparking various reactions. What made the picture significant was the fact that it was seen as a realistic picture, before being debunked the day after as fake and AI-generated.

The revelation further raised concerns about AI image generators and the kind of problems they can cause if used by dangerous makers who aren’t of humorous intentions.

That conversation resulted in Google’s development of a virtual watermark tool that helps detect images generated by artificial intelligence. SynthID, the watermark built by Deepmind, a subsidiary of Google, tells whether an image was created with AI or not. When embedded into images, it is difficult for humans to see the watermark, but an AI detection tool can easily spot an AI-generated image.

Pope Francis advocates using tech to mitigate climate change

To mitigate global warming and the dangers of climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its assessment report in November 2014.

Reacting to the report, Pope Francis stressed the importance of technology in mitigating climate change but warned that technological innovation will not be enough to prevent the consequences of climate change without corresponding social and political impetus.

Nevertheless, the Pope agreed with the report that substantial mitigation can come from technological innovation and called on world leaders to promote energy-efficient industrial production, transportation systems that reduce pollution, and sustainable agriculture. He arrived at this point from a religious perspective, emphasising that the protection of “our common home” requires the unification of the whole human family.

The Pope asserted that technology “sometimes solves one problem only to create others.” He keyed this on a nuance known as “rebound effects”. Rebound effects are behavioural responses to technological innovations that diminish the potential gains from increased efficiency. 

For instance, rebound effects can occur when an individual spends the money saved from energy-efficient products on a different polluting activity. Another is the recent revelation that generating just 1 million Ghibli-style images consumes approximately 40,000 litres of water, a volume that, according to the United Nations’ minimum water requirement of 20 litres per person per day, could sustain 2,000 people.

Pope Francis advocates tech for the common good

For quite some time, Pope Francis has emphasised the call to use technology wisely and responsibly by ensuring that it serves humanity and promotes the common good, rather than isolating individuals or exacerbating existing inequalities.

While Pope Francis believes technology can be a powerful force for positive change, especially when used to address the needs of the most vulnerable and to care for the earth, he preaches on encouraging a balanced approach that recognizes the value of human relationships and the potential of technology to enhance them, rather than replace them. 

He says, “It’s true, technology is the fruit of the intelligence God gave us. But we need to use it well. It can’t benefit only a few while excluding others. We should use technology to unite, not to divide. To help the poor. To improve the lives of the sick and persons with different abilities. Use technology to care for our common home. To connect as brothers and sisters.”

To him, balancing relationships and technologies will enhance unification, discover what matters, and make progress.

“How I would like for us to look less at screens and look each other in the eyes more!” he declared.

His message was clear: Technology + Greed = Disaster. Embrace technology in a just and ethical way.