Pope Leo XIV Issues First Major Document of His Papacy — It's About Artificial Intelligence
Pope Leo XIV has issued the first major theological document of his papacy — and he chose to spend it on artificial intelligence.
Magnifica Humanitas ("Magnificent Humanity"), a 42,300-word encyclical signed on May 15 and formally released by the Holy See on May 25, calls on governments, corporations, and individuals to slow the pace of AI development and ensure the technology serves human dignity rather than undermining it. Addressed to Catholics and, in the pope's own words, "every person of goodwill," the document is being described by Vatican observers as one of the most significant papal texts in decades.
The Argument at Its Core
The encyclical's underlying premise is neither technophobic nor utopian. "Technology is not a force antagonistic to humanity," Leo writes, "nor is it inherently evil." The key question, he argues, is who controls it and toward what ends — because "technology is never neutral: it takes on the characteristics of those who devise, finance, regulate, and use it."
The opening words frame the choice humanity faces in stark terms: "either to construct a new Tower of Babel or to build the city in which God and humanity dwell together."
The document covers a wide range of AI-related concerns — job displacement and the future of work, manipulation of information and the erosion of truth, privacy violations, ideological bias embedded in algorithms, autonomous weapons systems, and what Leo calls the danger of an "enhanced human being" — a vision of humanity augmented or replaced by technology in ways that strip away what makes us human. But the deeper danger the pope identifies goes beyond any specific application: it is the risk that human beings begin to see themselves and each other as programmable, optimizable, replaceable — as data rather than persons.
The Historical Parallel
Leo XIV deliberately signed the document on May 15, 2026 — the 135th anniversary of Rerum Novarum, the landmark 1891 encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII that addressed workers' rights and economic inequality during the Industrial Revolution. The parallel is explicit and intentional. Just as Leo XIII spoke to the social disruptions of industrialization, Leo XIV is positioning AI as the defining social disruption of this era and claiming the same moral authority to speak to it.
"Like the earlier Leo, I feel entrusted to look upon another huge transformation with eyes of faith, with lucidity of reason, with openness to mystery, and with cries of the poor and the earth resounding in my heart," the pope said at the document's formal presentation at the Vatican's Synod Hall on May 25.
An Unlikely Voice in the Room
Among those who addressed the Vatican presentation was Christopher Olah, co-founder of Anthropic — the AI safety company and creator of Claude. Olah, who describes himself as not a believer, praised the encyclical and called on governments, academics, and civil society to follow Leo's example of careful discernment. "To take this seriously, to look closely, and to push events in a better direction," he said.
The presence of an AI company co-founder at a papal document presentation is its own kind of signal about how seriously the technology industry is watching the Church's engagement with these questions.
What the Document Calls For
Magnifica Humanitas does not propose specific legislation or technical standards. Its appeal is moral and social — a call for shared responsibility, international cooperation, and what Leo describes as "a courageous mentality of communion" in approaching AI governance. The document emphasizes the dignity of work, the rights of workers displaced by automation, the protection of truth against algorithmic manipulation, and the particular vulnerability of children and young people to AI-shaped environments.
The encyclical was drafted beginning in July 2025 at the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo. Leo has described it as born from listening — to scientists, engineers, policymakers, parents, and teachers — before arriving at its conclusions.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops welcomed the document in a statement from Archbishop Paul Coakley. The Vatican's own news service called it "a landmark text" for Leo's papacy.
It is, at 42,300 words, a long read. But its central question is a short one: what does it mean to remain human in a world being reshaped by machines?
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