Pope Francis to Engage with Global Leaders at G7 Summit

Pope Francis will meet with world leaders, including Presidents Biden, Zelenskiy, Macron, and Modi, during the G7 summit in Italy. The Vatican announced his participation in discussions on artificial intelligence, marking the first time a pope has joined G7 talks.

Pope Francis will meet with the leaders of the United States, Ukraine, France and India on the sidelines of the Group of 7 (G7) summit in Italy's Borgo Egnazia, the Vatican said on Thursday. Francis, who in January warned against the "perverse" dangers of artificial intelligence, is due to take part in leaders' talks on the new technology on Friday.

He is the first pope to take part in G7 discussions. Issuing a programme for his one-day appearance, the Vatican said Francis would have a bilateral meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden, a fellow Catholic.

The Vatican said he would also have one-on-one meetings with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy, France's Emmanuel Macron, India's Narendra Modi, Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Canada's Justin Trudeau, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Kenya's William Ruto, Algeria's Abdelmadjid Tebboune, and the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva.