Pope tells Davos elite: Consider your role in creating poverty

Reuters - Pope Francis told members of the world's wealthy political and economic elite on Wednesday that they should not be deaf to the cry of the poor and must consider their own role in creating inequality.

New technologies such as robotics must also not be allowed to replace humans with "soulless machines," he said in a message to the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"To all of you I appeal once more: 'Do not forget the poor!'", he said.

The pope, who wrote a major encyclical on climate change and protection of the environment last year, also urged business leaders to see to it that the planet does not become "an empty garden."

The annual Davos meeting brings together many of the world's wealthiest and most powerful people to consider issues such as economics, climate change and war, with an eye to working on solutions to them.

It has been criticized by anti-globalization activists and others, however, as a forum for organizations that have been responsible for the problems in the first place.