Vatican · 2026-05-25 · major
Pope Leo XIV's First Encyclical 'Magnifica Humanitas' Makes AI Ethics Church Teaching — Urges the World to 'Disarm' AI and Is Presented in Person With Anthropic Co-Founder Chris Olah
Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical makes AI ethics a central teaching of the Catholic Church, calling to 'disarm' artificial intelligence, warning against autonomous weapons systems, and arguing that AI controlled by a profit-driven few erodes human dignity.
The Catholic Church makes AI ethics a core teaching: Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical urges the world to 'disarm' artificial intelligence.
What is it?
Magnifica Humanitas is Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical — the highest form of papal teaching document — and the first ever devoted to artificial intelligence. Signed May 15 on the 135th anniversary of Rerum Novarum and released May 25, 2026, it extends Catholic social teaching from labor and economics into the age of AI.
How does it work?
The text situates AI within the tradition running from Rerum Novarum through Laudato Si'. It argues AI cannot replicate the human capacity to suffer, grow, and love, warns against 'increasingly autonomous weapons systems,' and frames the concentration of AI in a profit-driven few as a 'new colonialism' that appropriates data and weakens democracy.
Why does it matter?
It elevates AI ethics to a moral imperative for over a billion Catholics and addresses the tech industry directly. Pope Leo broke tradition to present the document in person alongside Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah, who said engineers need 'moral voices that incentives cannot bend.'
Who is it for?
AI policy watchers, ethicists, industry leaders