Poverty, AI and migration discussed as Seamus Boland has 'extraordinary honour' of audience with Pope Leo XIV

"Mr Boland told the Irish Independent it was "an extraordinary honour" to meet with the Pope, who he said expressed empathy across the range of topics they discussed. "I met a very human Pope, a very human person, a person who seriously cares about people in disadvantage," he said. "He clearly had empathy with my mandate, which is to bring civil society to the heart of Europe in terms of policy making.""

""We in the EESC have called for the EU to declare an emergency in terms of housing, because frankly, the reality for people who can't afford housing is that they are the fertile ground for extremism. "If current governments, whether governments of the EU members or the EU Commission itself, don't deliver real measures to get people back into housing, we are going to drive them away from democratic institutions."

Mr Boland is a farmer and long-time civil society activist from Ballycumber, Co Offaly elected to the EESC in October for a two-and-a-half year term. The EESC represents trade unions, employers and civil society organisations in shaping EU policy. He met the Pope, who expressed empathy with his mandate to bring civil society to the heart of European policy making. Poverty affects 21% of Europeans—about 90 million people—and previous EU efforts from 2010–2020 on poverty eradication need rekindling. Housing shortages are causing severe poverty among young, working and older people and the EESC has urged an EU housing emergency to prevent extremism. Deepfake AI tools pose a new threat to young people on social media.

Read at Irish Independent