Holy See urges 'moratorium' on development of autonomous killing weapons at United Nations

The Holy See's Permanent Observer to the United Nations in Geneva urged the organization to issue a moratorium on autonomous lethal weapons this week, citing ethical concerns.

"For the Holy See, autonomous weapons systems cannot be considered as morally responsible entities," Balestrero explained. "The human person, endowed with reason, possesses a unique capacity for moral judgment and ethical decision-making that cannot be replicated by any set of algorithms, no matter how complex." Timothy Nerozzi is a writer for Fox News Digital. You can follow him on Twitter @timothynerozzi and can email him at timothy.nerozzi@fox.com

At the heart of the Holy See's warning is concern about machines' inability to understand or value human dignity — a missing capacity that allows real combatants to make moral decisions based on abstract reasoning and empathy.