Vatican: ‘Killer robots’ pose threat to innocent civilians
The use of “killer robots” and other lethal autonomous weapons systems violate international treaties because innocent civilians could be erroneously targeted, the Vatican said during a UN meeting in Geneva.
The potential of having “swarms of ‘kamikaze’ mini drones” and other advanced weaponry using artificial intelligence raises “serious implications for peace and security,” the Vatican permanent observer mission to UN agencies in Geneva said in a statement August 3 to the 2021 Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS).
“The use of swarms in urban areas could lead to high risks for civilians,” the statement said. “If functioning without any direct human supervision, such systems could make mistakes in identifying the intended targets due to some unidentified ‘bias’ induced by their ‘self-learning capabilities’ developed from a limited set of data samples.”
For years the Vatican, particularly the observer mission in Geneva, has warned against the use and development of LAWS or, so-called killer robots, which include military drones, unmanned vehicles and tanks and artificially intelligent missiles.
Pope Francis appeals for Lebanon on first anniversary of Beirut explosion
Pope Francis during his weekly General Audience appealed for what he called, “the beloved country of Lebanon.”
Addressing pilgrims in the Paul VI hall last Wednesday, the Pope said he was thinking of the country “a year after the terrible port explosion in its capital, Beirut, with its toll of death and destruction. I think above all of the victims and their families, the many injured, and those who lost their homes and livelihoods,” he noted.
On August 4 last year an explosion in Beirut, set off by 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, killed more than 200 people and left more than 300,000 displaced.
In July this year, the Pope met with Lebanese Christian leaders in the Vatican.
Speaking of this, Pope Francis said that “During the Day of Prayer and Reflection for Lebanon last 1 July, together with Christian religious leaders, all of us listened to the hopes and aspirations, the frustrations and weariness of the Lebanese people, and we prayed for God’s gift of hope to overcome this difficult crisis.”
In conclusion, Pope Francis expressed his desire to visit the country.
“I continue to pray for you,” he said, “so that Lebanon will once more be a message of peace and fraternity for the entire Middle East.”
Pope Francis asks Catholics to pray in August for Church reform ‘in the light of the Gospel’
Pope Francis is inviting Catholics around the world to pray this month that the Church receives the grace “to reform herself in the light of the Gospel.”
He made the appeal in his prayer intention for August, released on last Tuesday.
“Let us pray for the Church, that she may receive from the Holy Spirit the grace and strength to reform herself in the light of the Gospel,” reads the prayer intention, issued August 3 by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network.
The network also released an accompanying video, in which Pope Francis explained the rationale for the prayer intention.
Speaking in Spanish, the Pope said: “The specific vocation of the Church is evangelisation, which isn’t proselytism, no. Its vocation is evangelisation; even more, the Church’s identity is evangelisation.”