Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Pope Francis

Rome, June 14, 2024 (CCBI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Pope Francis on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Aquila, Italy on Friday, June 14, 2024. Modi extended an invitation to the Holy Father to visit India during this second meeting, their first having occurred in 2021 at the Vatican.

During their 2021 discussion, Modi and Pope Francis covered a range of topics, including the COVID-19 pandemic. This 2021 meeting was the first between an Indian Prime Minister and a Pope since late Atal Bihari Vajpayee met Pope John Paul II in June 2000.

At the G7 summit, Pope Francis urged leaders of the world's wealthiest democracies to prioritize human dignity in the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI), warning that such technology could reduce human relations to mere algorithms and emphasizing that no machine should ever be allowed to choose to take a human life.

The G7 Summit took place from June 13-15, 2024, at the luxurious Borgo Egnazia resort in Italy's Apulia region. PM Modi attended the summit at the invitation of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, marking his first international trip in his third term as the Prime Minister of India.

By Joicy Pinto