Pope Leo XIV visits the Città Universitaria (University City) at Sapienza University of Rome to meet with faculty and students at the institution's primary campus, one of the world's oldest and largest universities, Thursday, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Thursday denounced how investments in artificial intelligence and high-tech weaponry were leading the world into a “spiral of annihilation,” as he called for peace in the Middle East and Ukraine during a visit to Europe’s largest university.

Leo’s speech at Rome’s La Sapienza University marked the first time a pope has visited the campus since Pope Benedict XVI called off a planned speech there in 2008 in the face of protests from faculty and students.

The American pope was warmly welcomed on Thursday, including by some of Sapienza’s newest students: Young Palestinians who arrived in Italy this week on a “humanitarian corridor” from Gaza to continue their studies at the university. The Italian government, working with Catholic organizations, has brought hundreds of Palestinians to study and receive medical care in Italy since the Israeli war against Hamas in Gaza began in 2023.

Leo met some of the Gaza students during a brief greeting at the campus chapel, and again after his speech in the main lecture hall of the university, which was founded by Pope Boniface VIII in 1303.

In his speech, Leo denounced how military spending had increased dramatically this year, especially in Europe, at the expense of education and healthcare, while “enriching elites who care nothing for the common good.”

Pope Leo XIV, accompanied by, from left, Prefect of the Pontifical Household Archbishop Petar Rajič, Dean Antonella Polimeni, and his vicar for the city of Rome Cardinal Baldo Reina, visits the Città Universitaria (University City) at Sapienza University of Rome to meet with faculty and students at the institution's primary campus, one of the world's oldest and largest universities, Thursday, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

He called for better monitoring of how AI was being developed and used in military and civilian contexts “so that it does not absolve humans of responsibility for their choices and does not exacerbate the tragedy of conflicts.”

“What is happening in Ukraine, in Gaza and the Palestinian territories, in Lebanon, and in Iran illustrates the inhuman evolution of the relationship between war and new technologies in a spiral of annihilation,” he said.

The pope said education and research must move instead in the opposite direction that values life “the lives of peoples who cry out for peace and justice!”

Leo has identified AI as one of the most critical matters facing humanity, especially its application in warfare and everyday life. They are themes he’s expected to explore more fully in his first encyclical, due to be released in the coming weeks.

Nada Rahim Jouda, 19, was one of the Gazans who met Leo, just two days after she arrived in Italy. She was still marveling at her new life studying business science in Rome, a city that she said was “like heaven for me.”

“Everything here is green and it’s not gray and troubles everywhere and miserable people in the streets,” she said.

But Jouda remains concerned for the family she left behind: her mother, recovering from leukemia, and younger sisters aged 17 and 13. Over the course of the war in Gaza, the family was forced to move four times, and her mother was unable to receive care or check-ups for her cancer.

“They all rely on me. I’m the only hope that they have,” she said.