Pope Leo XIV issued a sweeping call Monday for robust international regulation of artificial intelligence, urging developers to prioritize the common good over profit and warning against the weaponization of the technology. The document, his first encyclical titled *Magnifica Humanitas* (“Magnificent Humanity”), positions AI as one of the defining moral challenges of our time.
In the eagerly awaited text, the first U.S.-born pope denounces the “culture of power” fueling the unchecked AI race, particularly the development of advanced remote warfare systems. He explicitly states that it is “not permissible” to delegate irreversible, lethal decisions to machines, creating potential tension with the Trump administration’s aggressive push for AI deregulation.
“Artificial Intelligence now demands to be disarmed — freed from logics that turn it into an instrument of domination, exclusion, and death,” Leo said during a special Vatican presentation of the encyclical.
A Moral Framework for the AI Era
The encyclical applies core principles of Catholic social teaching — human dignity, solidarity, justice, and the universal destination of goods — to the digital revolution. Drawing parallels with the Industrial Revolution, Leo argues that AI, like earlier technological upheavals, demands ethical and political responses to protect human work, freedom, and flourishing.
He criticizes the concentration of power and data in the hands of a few private companies, warning of risks to children, the vulnerable, and democratic accountability. “It is not enough to invoke ethics in the abstract,” he writes. “Robust legal frameworks, independent oversight, informed users, and a political system that does not abdicate its responsibility are required.”
Leo urges AI developers and political leaders to slow down, reflect, and choose service to humanity over profit or dominance.
Engagement with Tech Leaders
The Vatican launch featured remarks by Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah, whose company is currently in a legal dispute with the Trump administration over military use of its technology. Olah welcomed the pope’s call for external scrutiny, acknowledging the massive stakes involved, including the potential for large-scale displacement of human labor.
“We need more of the world — religious communities, civil society, scholars, governments — to take this seriously,” Olah said.
Experts across tech, academia, and ethics praised the document as a potential benchmark for global AI governance.
“This will prove to be a defining document for our era,” said Paolo Carozza, a law professor at Notre Dame and chair of the Meta Oversight Board. “Pope Leo is offering a clear, comprehensive, and coherent voice urging us to ensure technology serves humans rather than degrades them.”
War, Work, and Historical Reckoning
In some of its strongest passages, the encyclical addresses how AI is normalizing warfare by reducing human cost perception. Leo declares the Church’s traditional “just war” theory outdated in the face of autonomous lethal systems and demands full transparency in AI-driven military decision chains.
On labor, he warns that the pursuit of profit cannot justify widespread job displacement. “The human person is an end, not a means,” he writes.
In a historic first, Leo also issued a formal papal apology for the Vatican’s past role in legitimizing slavery through authorizations granted to European powers to subjugate “infidels.”
A Continuation of Catholic Social Thought
Signed on May 15 — the 135th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s groundbreaking *Rerum Novarum* — the new encyclical continues a 135-year tradition of applying Catholic social doctrine to the great questions of each era.
As AI sparks both utopian hopes and existential fears, *Magnifica Humanitas* offers a clear moral compass: technology must remain subordinate to human dignity, not the other way around.