Pope Leo XIV issues landmark AI encyclical 'Magnifica Humanitas', urging global slowdown and 'disarmament' of artificial intelligence

Pope Leo XIV has formally entered the global debate on artificial intelligence with the publication of his first encyclical, 'Magnifica Humanitas' (Magnificent Humanity). Signed on May 15, the 135th anniversary of the landmark social encyclical 'Rerum Novarum', the document was presented to the world on Monday at the Vatican's Aula Nuova del Sinodo. The text, spanning 231 pages across five chapters, is being read in policy and financial capitals as much as a piece of tech-regulation analysis as a theological document.

A direct message to governments and Big Tech

The encyclical addresses governments, parliaments, and the executives of the largest AI companies directly, in language the Holy See has rarely used about a single commercial technology. Pope Leo calls for 'robust legal frameworks, independent oversight, informed users, and a political system that does not abdicate its responsibility.' He explicitly urges states to 'disarm AI,' meaning to remove the technology from purely military and economic interests and place it inside frameworks designed to protect the common good. The Pope warns against the concentration of power in a 'small group of firms' and the risk that AI will deepen inequality and erode human agency.

Disarming AI means removing it from the logic of armed competition, which today is no longer only military but economic and cognitive.

The Anthropic connection

The presentation of the encyclical was unusual for a papal text, featuring a public conversation with Christopher Olah, co-founder of Anthropic. Seated to the Pope's left, Olah argued that AI cannot be steered by AI labs alone and called for greater oversight from religious leaders, governments, and civil society. He warned of a 'real possibility' of large-scale unemployment driven by AI and noted that development is concentrated in 'a handful of rich nations.' The choice of Anthropic was seen as deliberate: the company has spent two years arguing publicly for external oversight of frontier models and recently clashed with the Pentagon over the use of its technology for surveillance and autonomous weapons.

Some might believe that AI matters are best handled by computer scientists like me. They are wrong.

The moral and ethical core

At the heart of 'Magnifica Humanitas' is a warning against attributing genuinely human capacities to artificial systems. The Pope writes that 'no calculation system, however sophisticated, generates a heart that gives itself, nor a conscience capable of discerning good.' He cautions that AI can be dangerous when a person seeks care, companionship, advice, friendship, or love from it, warning that such 'artificial imitation' can deceive and give the false impression of a real relationship. The encyclical also rejects the notion of algorithmic neutrality, stating that AI cannot be considered morally neutral when it reproduces stereotypes, biases, or ideological positions of its designers.

We cannot consider AI as morally neutral.

War, peace, and algorithmic decisions

The Pope condemns the delegation of life-and-death decisions to algorithms, particularly in the military domain. He states that 'moral judgment cannot be reduced to a calculation: it involves conscience, personal responsibility, and recognition of the other as a person.' The encyclical also reiterates the need to move beyond the theory of 'just war,' which the Pope says is too often invoked to justify any conflict, while affirming the right to legitimate self-defense in the strictest sense. He condemns any attempt to use God's name to legitimize terrorism, violence, or war.

A papacy's defining document

Analysts are already comparing 'Magnifica Humanitas' to Pope Francis's 2015 climate encyclical 'Laudato Si',' which sparked global political debate. Anna Rowlands, a British academic and Church adviser, noted that for more than a century popes have cautioned that the world 'will not be saved by the market,' and that Pope Leo now cautions that we will not be 'saved' by AI. The encyclical extends a position Leo has been developing since his election, including a speech at La Sapienza University in Rome earlier this year denouncing AI-enabled warfare. The document formally supersedes the earlier Vatican 'Rome Call for AI Ethics.'

Today, Pope Leo cautions that we will not be 'saved' by AI.