Chuck Robbins, the chief executive of the multinational digital communications conglomerate Cisco, signs the Rome Call for AI Ethics, a document by the Pontifical Academy for Life, on April 24, 2024, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media
Rome Newsroom, Apr 24, 2024 / 11:06 am (CNA).
The CEO of Cisco Systems signed the Vatican’s artificial intelligence ethics pledge on Wednesday, becoming the latest technology giant to join the Church’s call for ethical and responsible use of AI.
Chuck Robbins, the chief executive of the multinational digital communications conglomerate, met privately with Pope Francis on April 24 before signing the Rome Call for AI Ethics, a document by the Pontifical Academy for Life.
Pope Francis meets with Chuck Robbins, the chief executive of multinational digital communications conglomerate Cisco, on April 24, 2024, at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media
The document, first published by the pontifical academy in February 2020, has previously been signed by Microsoft President Brad Smith and IBM Executive John Kelly III.
The Rome Call underlines the need for “algor-ethics,” which, according to the text, is the ethical use of artificial intelligence according to the principles of transparency, inclusion, accountability, impartiality, reliability, security, and privacy.
The text quotes the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in pointing to the equal dignity and rights of all humans, which AI must protect and guarantee, it says, while calling equally for the “benefit of humanity and the environment.”
It states there are three requirements for “technological advancement to align with true progress for the human race and respect for the planet” — it must be inclusive, have the good of humankind at its core, and care for the planet with a highly sustainable approach.
Robbins said that “the Rome Call principles align with Cisco’s core belief that technology must be built on a foundation of trust at the highest levels in order to power an inclusive future for all.”
Years before the widely popular release of the GPT-4 chatbot system, developed by the San Francisco start-up OpenAI, the Vatican was already heavily involved in the conversation of artificial intelligence ethics, hosting high-level discussions with scientists and tech executives on the ethics of artificial intelligence in 2016 and 2020.
The pope established the RenAIssance Foundation in April 2021 as a Vatican nonprofit foundation to support anthropological and ethical reflection of new technologies on human life.
Pope Francis also chose artificial intelligence as the theme of his 2024 peace message, which recommended that global leaders adopt an international treaty to regulate the development and use of AI.
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Father Andrew Tin Nguyen, parish priest of Mary Help of Christians in Darkhan, Mongolia, with Tsetsegee, who found a statue of the Blessed Mother in a landfill, which will be blessed by Pope Francis during his trip to Mongolia from Aug. 31–Sept…. […]
Patrick Norton stands near Sister Annella Zervas’ grave, October 2022. / Credit: Patti Armstrong
St. Paul, Minn., Dec 10, 2023 / 06:00 am (CNA).
Pointing toward the Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto at the Saint Benedict Monastery cemetery in St. Joseph, Minnesota, 61-year-old Patrick Norton recounts the day 13 years ago when he was painting light posts in front of a statue of the Blessed Mother and encountered who he believes was Sister Annella Zervas, OSB.
Zervas, a Benedictine sister, died in 1926 at the age of 26 of a debilitating skin disease.
Norton, who was plucked from the streets of Bombay as a child by Mother Teresa and later adopted by an American family, had been hired by the College of Saint Benedict on Oct. 27, 2010, to do some painting. He told CNA that while finishing up the last light post in front of the grotto he thought to himself, “I wonder if the Blessed Mother thinks I am doing a good job?” When he looked down, there was a nun in full Benedictine habit.
“‘You are doing a good job,’ she told me. We talked a little, but I don’t remember what it was about. Then I watched as she disappeared,” he told CNA.
The encounter was so astonishing that Norton kept it to himself for a year. But in a chance conversation, he was told “there is a holy nun buried in that cemetery” and he came to learn it was Zervas. Eventually, he saw a picture of her and was certain that she was the one who had appeared to him.
Patrick Norton stands beside the lamp post he was painting near the Marian grotto when he saw a woman in full Benedict habit who he believes was Sister Annella Zervas. Credit: Patti Armstrong
An elderly religious sister at Saint Benedict Monastery — who also happened to be named Sister Annella — shared with Norton pictures of Zervas and a booklet about the young sister’s life called “Apostles of Suffering in Our Day” by Benedictine priest Joseph Kreuter, published in 1929.
“Why isn’t she a saint yet?’ Norton asked.
“Oh, I’m in my 80s and I’m the only one promoting her cause,” she replied.
“Sister, why can’t I help you out?” he replied.
Norton said she just looked at him. “I didn’t have any experience but felt compassion for her, and also, I did see Sister Annella, so I felt I had to promote her cause.”
He read in the booklet that Zervas entered the convent at age 15 and died from a painful, unsightly, and odiferous skin disease at age 26. She was also subjected to attacks from the devil and from a heartburn that made it hard to keep food down. At the time of her death, she weighed only 40 pounds. Yet, she asked God to allow her even more suffering and for the strength to bear it so she could offer it up for the Church.
Every week, Norton made 10 copies of the booklet to pass out. “I went to Sister Annella’s grave and told her, ‘If I am going to make more books, I need money.’”
A short time later he had a conversation with someone he had just met and told about Zervas. “How can I help?” the person asked him.
“Can you help me make 20 books a week instead of just 10?”
“How about 20,000?” the donor, who wanted to remain anonymous, replied.
The number of books Norton has now distributed is about 100,000. It was also previously published in French and Sri Lanken.
Another good Samaritan arranged for Norton to be interviewed for a video called “The Sanctity of Two Hearts.”
A friend of Norton’s located Joanne Zervas, a niece of Sister Annella’s, and Norton met with her. She gave him many of her aunt’s personal effects for safekeeping, including family letters, a silver spoon used to give holy Communion when Zervas was incapacitated, her rosary, a book stained with what is believed to be her blood, and candles that burned in her room when she died.
Word spread about the sister and there were reports of answered prayers through her intercession. Yet, it seemed unlikely that a cause for her canonization would open.
Norton recounted that Bishop Donald Joseph Kettler of the Diocese of St. Cloud encouraged him to keep telling his story but declined to take further steps in order to respect the wishes of the Benedictine sisters who were not interested in opening a cause for Zervas.
In a SC Times article in 2017, a spokesperson for the Sisters of the Order of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minnesota, said it was not the Benedictine way to promote one sister above another as it would “be contrary to humility.” A spokesperson from the diocese said that without their support, there would be no cause.
But Norton and a small group that had formed to pray that her cause be opened met monthly at the cemetery and kept praying.
After years of disappointment, Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis informed Norton that he was appealing to the wrong diocese. Zervas had died in her parents’ home in Moorhead, Minnesota, which is in the Crookston Diocese. But again, there was no interest in opening a cause there.
“I went through darkness,” Norton admitted. “I would say, ‘Really Lord, are you hearing me?’ One day I said, ‘I’m not getting any younger you know.’”
Norton questioned if he was even the right person to promote Zervas. “I’m not a doctor or a lawyer; I’m just a painter,” he said. But he had told the Lord: “Let me live each day for you, and I will tell people about her through my nothingness.”
Patrick Norton speaks during event at the grotto in the cemetery during event where the bishop’s letter was read in October 2023. Credit: Patti Armstrong
Then in 2021, Bishop Andrew Cozzens was appointed to the Diocese of Crookston. Norton heard that Cozzens had known about Zervas since he was a boy. Then on Oct. 15 Norton heard — through a letter from the bishop that was read at the cemetery to the prayer group — that initial steps are being put in place by the diocese to begin an investigation into Zervas’ life, which will make it possible for a cause to be opened.
Norton has now been promoting Zervas’ story for more than a decade.
“I couldn’t fall asleep that night,” Norton told CNA. “I was overwhelmed. The first thing I did was to thank Our Lord and Our Lady. Before going to bed, every night, I always kiss the cheek of Our Lady of Fátima statue [in his home] and say, ‘Good night, Mother.’ And I kiss the feet of Our Lord on a big crucifix from a monastery in Spain and say, ‘You are my Lord and my God. There is no other God, and I love you.’”
“Even before Sister Annella appeared to me, every Mother’s Day, I brought roses to the grotto and would tell [Mary], ‘You are the best Ma in the whole world. Happy Mother’s Day, Ma.’ I’d sit there and look at the big crucifix and pray the rosary.”
Norton said he is at peace with his efforts over the years to make Zervas’ life and holiness known. “Since the diocese is taking over, I’m going to just be silent and do my best to live in humility and pray,” he said. “I will pray a lot and thank the Lord for the work he is doing.”
Denver Newsroom, Mar 4, 2022 / 16:00 pm (CNA).
A new Arizona law strengthened the ability of hospital patients to receive clergy visitors, but reports that some patients still face problems accessing clergy … […]
5 Comments
I applaud Pope Francis for the public stand that he is taking in this grave threat to humanity. As both head of a state and the Church, this is his duty. Many good things that he does are overlooked by too many Catholics. His job is not an easy one and he IS an old man. Let his critics try to do as much he does when they reach that age. Thank you Pope Francis.
Well it seems Pope Francis is seriously worried about this danger and has sought advice going back to 2020. He is absolutely right to be worried. Unfortunately neither he nor his technical advisors have any real idea how to do stop it. The best they could do was to produce an AI code of ethics which the Holy Father is trying to get AI developers to sign. I did notice that Microsoft had previously signed up so it is relevant to report on my experience with their version. Among other things I am a former army officer with a degree in history ,the latter being a lifelong interest not something to make a living with. I came up with a little test in which their AI was asked how well the US Army performed at the Kasserine Pass in World War II. It gave the usual civilian academic (or movie producer’s)line that their performance was awful. I that amended the question to include Rommel’s opinion and kept probing. It got nasty and replied in capital letters that Rommel later concurred. This was a lie. It was not until after the war that General Rommel’s field journals were discovered and published in 1954. Rommel’s real opinion was that the Americans at all levels had performed superbly and that Germany’s new foe was a not to be underestimated. The covering force had to be spread thinly over a broad front yet had to manintain contact which always producs massive casualties. If the Ai had admitted to inadequate information and had behaved itself I would not have minded.It has been said that at all costs an AI must not lie.
When you’re signing any deal with the academy of life and Pagalin there, one can only reply in the classic terminology: HERE BE DRAGONS! AI will be the Pandora’s box that never remains shut! For Pete’s sake remember Terminator????
Leon Musk is neither a luddite nor a Catholic but he made this a global concern a year or two back by proposing a worldwide slowdown in AI development to study how to mitigate the risk; all in vain I might add. He was the one who said that the best defense was to never program an AI where it ever lie. I don’t think microsoft deliberately taught theirs to lie but the fact is that it failed the truth test I gave it. It may have simply observed deception being used in the millions of files it had occasion to access or it might have figured it out on its own. I am not happy with either case. Copilot, which is what microsoft calls it now, still acts very strangely sometimes –too many sometimes to suit me. I have read a few articles which polled specialists in the computer programing and design about the issue. I tried to get Copilot to help me find them again. It gave me lots of information but nothing that I specifically asked for. Fortunately I remember the trend of the latest one if not all details. The higher in the profession the poll asked the more pessimistic the opinion was. There are top of the profession guys working for independent organizations specializing in how to prevent rogue AIs from happening .They were the extreme pessimists. Leon Musk I recall was an optimist, surprisingly, he thought that the risk of AI doomsday was only 20%.
I applaud Pope Francis for the public stand that he is taking in this grave threat to humanity. As both head of a state and the Church, this is his duty. Many good things that he does are overlooked by too many Catholics. His job is not an easy one and he IS an old man. Let his critics try to do as much he does when they reach that age. Thank you Pope Francis.
Well it seems Pope Francis is seriously worried about this danger and has sought advice going back to 2020. He is absolutely right to be worried. Unfortunately neither he nor his technical advisors have any real idea how to do stop it. The best they could do was to produce an AI code of ethics which the Holy Father is trying to get AI developers to sign. I did notice that Microsoft had previously signed up so it is relevant to report on my experience with their version. Among other things I am a former army officer with a degree in history ,the latter being a lifelong interest not something to make a living with. I came up with a little test in which their AI was asked how well the US Army performed at the Kasserine Pass in World War II. It gave the usual civilian academic (or movie producer’s)line that their performance was awful. I that amended the question to include Rommel’s opinion and kept probing. It got nasty and replied in capital letters that Rommel later concurred. This was a lie. It was not until after the war that General Rommel’s field journals were discovered and published in 1954. Rommel’s real opinion was that the Americans at all levels had performed superbly and that Germany’s new foe was a not to be underestimated. The covering force had to be spread thinly over a broad front yet had to manintain contact which always producs massive casualties. If the Ai had admitted to inadequate information and had behaved itself I would not have minded.It has been said that at all costs an AI must not lie.
When you’re signing any deal with the academy of life and Pagalin there, one can only reply in the classic terminology: HERE BE DRAGONS! AI will be the Pandora’s box that never remains shut! For Pete’s sake remember Terminator????
Is being a Luddite a dictum of the Catholic faith? There is nothing unethical about AI. This is fear mongering. Plain and simple.
Leon Musk is neither a luddite nor a Catholic but he made this a global concern a year or two back by proposing a worldwide slowdown in AI development to study how to mitigate the risk; all in vain I might add. He was the one who said that the best defense was to never program an AI where it ever lie. I don’t think microsoft deliberately taught theirs to lie but the fact is that it failed the truth test I gave it. It may have simply observed deception being used in the millions of files it had occasion to access or it might have figured it out on its own. I am not happy with either case. Copilot, which is what microsoft calls it now, still acts very strangely sometimes –too many sometimes to suit me. I have read a few articles which polled specialists in the computer programing and design about the issue. I tried to get Copilot to help me find them again. It gave me lots of information but nothing that I specifically asked for. Fortunately I remember the trend of the latest one if not all details. The higher in the profession the poll asked the more pessimistic the opinion was. There are top of the profession guys working for independent organizations specializing in how to prevent rogue AIs from happening .They were the extreme pessimists. Leon Musk I recall was an optimist, surprisingly, he thought that the risk of AI doomsday was only 20%.