Within the first landmark newsletter of his papacy, Pope Leo XIV has addressed fresh advances in synthetic intelligence by way of that specialize in the risk it poses to employees, social justice and “the dignity of persons”.
Presenting his first papal encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas” (“Magnificent Humanity”), on the Vatican on Might 25, Leo declared: “Artificial intelligence needs to be disarmed.”
Within the file – comprising round 42,300 phrases in its English translation – the pope writes: “To disarm does not mean rejecting technology, but preventing it from dominating humanity.”
Encyclicals are exceptionally necessary papal paperwork that reply to probably the most urgent social problems with the time. Normally written as letters to all bishops and archbishops, they’ve change into a an important automobile for disseminating the theology and political commitments of the Roman Catholic Church internationally.
Pope Leo XIV signing his first encyclical on Might 15 2026. Video: Vatican Information.
Leo selected to signal his first encyclical on Might 15 2026, the precise anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s “Rerum novarum” (“Of new things”). This well-known encyclical, which answered to the technological advances of the economic revolution, changed into the foundational file of all trendy Catholic social educating.
Certainly, the present pope most likely selected the title Leo as a result of Leo XIII’s famend dedication to social justice.
Simply as “Rerum novarum” answered to the economic revolution by way of emphasising employees’ rights and the distinction of human labour, so too Leo XIV has answered to the explosion of AI generation by way of emphasising the significance of human over device intelligence.
In 1891, Leo XIII wrote: “Wage-earners … should be specially cared for and protected by the government.”
Leo XIV now makes identical appeals to international governments about AI: “It is necessary to establish adequate regulatory tools capable of upholding justice and curbing the distorting effects of technological power.”
Pope Leo XIII.
Wikimedia
The present pope follows a protracted custom of Catholic engagement with new tech – from issues in regards to the affect of the printing press within the fifteenth century to the upward thrust of the web over 500 years later.
Leo XIV’s presentation was once preceded by way of a brief movie which juxtaposed photographs of earlier popes with main technological inventions. Radio towers gave strategy to photographs of broadband centres; early computer systems to a sea of other people protecting up their smartphones in St Peter’s Sq., Vatican Town.
Most likely the an important theme of this video was once the relationship between generation and struggle. Footage of 2d international struggle airplane have been intercut with the losing of the atomic bomb, quickly adopted by way of photographs of the 9/11 assaults.
Within the encyclical, Leo warns: “The growing ease with which autonomous weapons systems can be deployed makes war more ‘feasible’ and less subject to human control.”
Name for disarmament
Leo XIV isn’t the primary pope to deal with the prospective risk posed by way of AI generation. In January 2025, his predecessor Francis signed off the doctrinal notice “Antiqua et nova” (“Ancient and new”) – which known as for AI generation “to include the least of our brothers and sisters, the vulnerable and those most in need”.
Leo’s new name for the disarmament of AI isn’t a requirement to discontinue its construction, however to keep an eye on AI robustly so it best serves the typical just right.
On this, the pope drew an analogy with the nuclear disarmament motion, suggesting that each nuclear and AI applied sciences will have to best be advanced for the nice of humanity, and not used as guns.
Video: Vatican Information.
The ones invited to provide their ideas on Leo’s encyclical incorporated Christopher Olah, the Canadian billionaire and co-founder of AI company Anthropic. The semblance of Olah marks the primary time a speaker solely outdoor clerical or theological circles has been incorporated in the sort of presentation.
Anthropic is recently locked in a prison dispute with the USA executive in regards to the army utility of its AI programs. Leo’s encyclical underlines his issues in regards to the escalation of struggle all over the world, declaring: “It is important to reaffirm that the ‘just war’ theory, which has all too often been used to justify any kind of war, is now outdated.”
Olah echoed Leo’s calls for for larger social justice round the usage of AI, declaring: “His Holiness’s call for disarmament is profoundly timely.”
He known as for other people running outdoor pc science to give a contribution to AI governance and ethics – other people “beyond the incentives” of monetary markets “who can see what we, from the inside, cannot”.
Leo replied Olah by way of pronouncing: “In the name of the Church, I accept your invitation to walk together, to listen and to speak – and together, to find the way for humanity in this time of artificial intelligence.”
