While society is increasingly focused on pushing the limits of human achievement, it must not lose sight of its duty to protect the dignity of the vulnerable, especially children exploited by the "scourge of child labor," Pope Francis said.

"Today we know how to turn our eyes toward Mars or virtual worlds, but we struggle to look into the eyes of a child who has been left on the margins and is being exploited and abused," he said at his general audience Jan. 8.

The thousands of people, including many children, who gathered to see the pope in the Vatican audience hall also were treated to a short performance by members of the Circafrica, a circus troupe with animatronic elephants, acrobats and dancers from several African nations.

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In his main audience talk, Pope Francis told the crowd that "the century that generates artificial intelligence and designs multiplanetary existences has not yet come to terms with the scourge of humiliated, exploited, mortally wounded childhood."

Speaking about child labor, the pope said that "too many little ones are forced to work."

"Everywhere on earth there are children exploited by an economy that does not respect life, an economy that, in doing so, burns up our greatest reservoir of hope and love," he said. A child "who does not smile and dream cannot come to know or nurture his or her talents."

All those who recognize themselves as children of God, especially those who share the Gospel with others, he said, "cannot remain indifferent, cannot accept that little sisters and brothers, rather than being loved and protected, may have their childhood taken from them, their dreams" and become "victims of exploitation and marginalization."

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Christianity's respect for children is rooted in Scripture, the pope said, noting that the word "child" is the second-most cited word in the Old Testament after the name of God, "Yahweh."

The Bible portrays both the joy children bring and the suffering they endure, he said. "Songs of joy resound, but the screams of victims also rise."

"Children are a gift from God," he said. "Unfortunately, this gift is not always treated with respect."

Pope Francis pointed to the Gospel account of the threat to the newborn Jesus by "the blizzard of Herod's violence, who slaughtered the children of Bethlehem: a dark drama that is repeated in other forms in history."

King Herod, after learning from the Magi about the birth of a king, ordered the massacre of all male children aged 2 and under in Bethlehem and its vicinity. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph fled to Egypt after being warned in a dream.

As a result, the Holy Family experienced "the nightmare of becoming refugees in a foreign country, as happens even today to so many people, to so many children," the pope said.

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Pope Francis also noted how Jesus frequently presented children as models of faith and told his followers that those who do not convert and become like a child "will not enter the kingdom of heaven."

After his main speech, Pope Francis asked for prayers for peace in Ukraine, Nazareth, Israel and all nations at war. "War is always a defeat," he said.