Pope Leo XIV said that patients around the world are not just dry statistics and data, reviving the debate on ethics in healthcare, Aleteia.org reported.
Pope Leo XIV received participants in the IX Seminar on Ethics in Health Management, organized by the Pontifical Academy for Life. The meeting took place in Rome, in the context of the Jubilee Year, and brought together experts from Latin America, who discussed ethics, artificial intelligence and new technologies in the health system, writes Vaticannews.va.
The pope's message comes at a time when hospitals and health agencies are increasingly relying on artificial intelligence, predictive algorithms and vast amounts of data. These tools improve diagnostics, help allocate resources and reveal patterns that previously went unnoticed. They can ease the workload of medical teams and guide life-saving interventions. However, Pope Leo XIV stressed the ethical cost of allowing these tools to shape the way we treat each other. When numbers dominate decision-making, they can narrow the lens through which a patient's life is understood.
Data highlights certain realities, but it cannot explain the full burden of the disease. It cannot show the anxiety that a person brings to the waiting room, or the social and economic pressures that affect a person's health. When institutions rely too much on indicators alone, they risk create blind spots that exacerbate inequality.
Algorithms can inadvertently favor some groups over others. For Pope Leo, this is not just a technical problem, but a question of moral vision. His address encouraged leaders to broaden their understanding of the “good” they are trying to serve. He urged them to resist systems that value people primarily on financial burdens or predicted outcomes.
The Holy Father highlighted a key risk in modern health systems: ethical and technological “bias” — invisible distortions that can arise when using data, algorithms and artificial intelligence. He said these tools, while powerful and useful, can be manipulated to benefit economic, political or other interests. This can lead to people being unfairly categorized based on the cost of their treatment, their diagnosis or their perceived “usefulness“.
Leo XIV also proposed a solution to this situation: a change in “view“. Health ethics — he said — must see man as God sees him: with a broad perspective, with patience, generosity and solidarity. This means not seeking quick profit, but creating networks of cooperation, shared resources and equitable access to care. He stressed that true care is always personal: it involves closeness, touch, recognition of the specific human story behind each hospital card.