Pope Francis made his debut at the Group of Seven summit, landing in a white helicopter and rolling into a room of world leaders to deliver a warning about artificial intelligence being “fascinating and terrible.”

Anticipation of the leader of the Catholic church had already infused an air of religiosity into a gathering that is typically concerned with geopolitics. Behind the scenes, Italy was ruffling feathers by pushing to dilute references on abortion and LGBTQ rights.

The pope’s formal role was to take part in discussions on regulating AI, a topic he feels strongly about having already sounded the alarm on the risk of “technological dictactorship.” As if to underscore his remonstrances, an image of the pope in a white puffer coat went viral last year and was later revealed to be a deep fake.

The touch of the sacred has rubbed off on Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the unwed mother of a single child who has made upholding traditional values a key part of her brand. “I am a woman, I am Italian, I’m a Christian — you won’t take it away from me,” she famously said at a political rally that was turned into a song remix.

To be sure, she’s also not afraid to lean on the profane. She frequently evokes her salt-of-the earth Roman upbringing, and has been caught on camera using vulgar slurs as terms of endearment. It’s an ability to span both worlds that’s part of the right-wing premier’s electoral appeal.

She’s courted the Pope’s favor in policy areas like her crusade to encourage Italians to have more children, undermining a theoretical firewall between church and state. She’s also been unapologetic about her mission to deny LGBTQ people equal rights in marriage and parenthood.

Pope Francis saw the devoutly Catholic U.S. President Joe Biden who speaks frequently of his warm relationship with the pontiff. The two touched foreheads earlier on Friday as the pontiff worked the room.

Even before arriving in full regalia, the pope’s spirit was being felt in backroom negotiations over the communique.

This year the Italians, as hosts, have gone on the offensive to argue strenuously for references to abortion to be removed from the statement — something that’s normally a standard part of the wording, and was included in the text that came out of last year’s G-7, which Meloni herself attended.

In the end, a cosmetic workaround was reached. Under pressure from the Americans and others, the final communique will instead reiterate a commitment to last year’s version, according to the draft seen by Bloomberg and sources familiar with the negotiations — a reference to abortion in all but name.

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