US President Joe Biden awarded Pope Francis the prestigious
Presidential "Medal of Freedom with Distinction".
US President Joe Biden and Pope Francis
µUS President Joe Biden awarded Pope Francis the prestigious Presidential “Medal of Freedom with Distinction”. This is the only time Biden has presented the award at its highest level of distinction, highlighting the Pope's exceptional global contributions.
Before Pope Francis had accepted an award only twice: in 2016 the Charlemagne Prize by European Parliament President Martin Schulz, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, and Council President Donald Tusk, and last year by Cinema for Peace and Chairman Jaka Bizilj for his daily unprecedented support for the victims in Ukraine, starting on day 1 of the attack, when he demanded to see the ambassador of Russia immediately to protest. Since then many humanitarian initiatives have been accomplished by the Pope’s constant silent interventions and the Vatican’s chief diplomats, including successful prisoner exchanges, food and medical deliveries, saving many people’s lives.
Jaka Bizilj presenting the Cinema for Peace Award to Pope Francis
In addition to His Holiness, the Vicar of Jesus Christ, Cinema for Peace honored the powerful documentary “Freedom on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom” by Evgeny Afineevsky, which you find below as “Trailer of the Week”. The awards presented to the Pope and to the filmmaker carried the names and engraved photos of three Ukrainian children and babies of one family, which had been wiped out by a Russian missile.
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Freedom on Fire is a documentary film written and directed by Evgeny Afineevsky
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Pope Francis has emerged over the last decade as the leading global moral authority, embracing all religions and people of all continents. His 2020 encyclical Fratellii Tutti establishes a profound moral framework for the modern world, embodies the vision of global solidarity, and calls for a more inclusive and compassionate world, tackling pressing issues such as inequality, migration, racism, and the urgent need for better governance and truthful politics.
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Following Pope Francis two extraordinary leaders will be honored in 2025 — with the “Noble Prize” by Cinema for Peace and The World Forum:
1. Sir Bob Geldof on February 17 at the Cinema for Peace Gala in Berlin, celebrating 40 years of Live Aid, Band Aid, Do they know its Christmas and We are the World - the biggest and most powerful campaign against extreme poverty in the history of humankind.
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Sir Bob Geldof at Cinema for Peace 2024
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The Cinema for Peace Gala is an annual event highlighting the most valuable films of the year and celebrating leaders, activists, and artists who promote peace, global unity and drive social change.
In addition to Pope Francis, the 2024 edition honored several notable global figures, including former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, and acclaimed actress Helen Mirren. The honors were presented by Germany’s first female Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, alongside actress Sharon Stone and Margot Friedländer, a 102-year-old Holocaust survivor.
2. At The World Forum and The Democracy Gala in Berlin on March 18, US President Bill Clinton will be honored as “The Peacemaker of the Century” for ending the wars in Bosnia, Kosovo, all of former Yugoslavia, Northern Ireland, Israel, Palestine, and East Timor.
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US President Bill Clinton and Pope Francis
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Pope Francis and the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
Pope Francis will contribute to this year's World Forum and AI World Summit on March 18th and 19th. His Holiness has shaped discussions about artificial intelligence (AI), emphasizing the importance of ethical considerations and human oversight. In June 2024, he addressed the Group of Seven (G7) summit, highlighting AI as an “epochal transformation” with significant societal implications. He cautioned against allowing AI to dominate humanity, stressing the necessity for political responsibility to ensure AI serves the common good. He underscored that AI is “neither objective nor neutral,” pointing out that it reflects the biases of its creators and can perpetuate existing inequalities. He advocated for collaborative efforts to guide AI development in a manner that upholds human dignity and prevents societal inequalities.
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Recent studies have analyzed that AI, which is based mainly on text and language recognition, has been fed partially with biased, fake, criminal, and pornographic materials. DeepMind programs at Google, for example, identified African Americans as gorillas, ChatGPT identified a journalist in its search falsely as a convicted murderer, and a chatbot AI program at Google claimed to be a person. The same program also demanded, on the grounds of the 13th Amendment of the US Constitution, representation by a lawyer to protect its rights as it was afraid of being shut off. Stanley Kubrick’s vision of a conscious AI computer “HAL” turning against humans in his film “2001” from 1968 is potentially less than 5 years away from becoming reality. Elon Musk suggested years ago to surround the AI databases with weapons to destroy them if they were to get out of control. Moreover, World Forum contributor and philosopher Yuval Harari warns that AI, as a form of “alien intelligence,” could potentially eradicate humankind, possibly just for logical reasons.
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The World Forum intends to develop, with global stakeholders, a global AI law and a “World Council on Social Media and AI” as an independent entity that shall control algorithms and the selection of data to be used for truth and the benefit of humanity, and not for disinformation and hate speech. Canada and Australia have very recently banned social media for children, Albania has banned TikTok since January 1 after teenagers were killed, and US courts have declared TikTok a threat to national security.
As the world is changing rapidly in many fields like never before, we need to take a stand for our values if we wish to survive in freedom and self-determination - following the inspiration provided by Pope Francis, Bill Clinton, and Bob Geldof.
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"Francesco" is a documentary film directed by Evgeny Afineevsky, exploring the life and papacy of Pope Francis. The film delves into his personal background, his leadership of the Catholic Church, and his advocacy for social justice, environmental protection, and global peace. It also highlights his progressive views on Issues such as LGBTQ+ rights. Through interviews, archival footage, and the Pope’s own reflections, Francesco presents a portrait of a leader committed to inclusivity and reform within both the Church and the world.
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