Released Monday, the 42,300-word encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas” marks Pope Leo’s most sweeping statement yet on the promise and dangers of AI, a topic he has repeatedly spoken about in the year since his election. Framed as an appeal for the defense of humanity in a rapidly automating world, the text urges governments, corporations, and individuals to slow the rate of technological development and ensure that AI remains subject to ethical and political oversight. He presented the encyclical at the Vatican alongside Christopher Olah, a co-founder of Anthropic, in a symbolic gesture of dialogue between Church leadership and the AI industry.
“Calling for prudence, rigorous evaluation and even, at times, a slower pace in adopting AI does not mean opposing progress,” Leo wrote. “Instead, it is an exercise of responsible care for the human family.”
Leo’s focus on AI is also reflected in his papal name itself, which he chose in reference to Pope Leo XIII, whose 1891 encyclical “Rerum Novarum” addressed the social consequences of the Industrial Revolution and established the foundation of modern Catholic social teaching on labor and technology. Leo XIV has drawn a direct comparison between the current moment of technological development and the one his most recent namesake confronted more than a century earlier, describing AI as ushering in a “new industrial revolution.”
Here’s what to know about his first encyclical, and how it builds on those put forward by past popes.
The past encyclical that Leo’s new “Magnifica Humanitas” most clearly parallels is Pope Leo XIII’s “Rerum Novarum.” Written during the Industrial Revolution, the landmark encyclical addressed workers’ rights, economic inequality, and the social consequences of rapid industrialization, advocating for labor protections while warning against both unregulated capitalism and socialism. It became a foundational text of modern Catholic social teaching, a significance that the current pope directly spoke to in his newly issued encyclical.
Leo XIV expressed his desire to “add my own voice to this living tradition” with his first encyclical, which he formally signed on May 15, exactly 135 years after “Rerum Novarum” was published—further underscoring the parallels between the documents.
What Pope Leo warns about—and pushes for—in “Magnifica Humanitas”
In the encyclical, Leo outlined risks he believes artificial intelligence poses and proposed responses the government, companies, and broader society could take to address them.
“The pursuit of greater profits cannot justify choices that systematically sacrifice jobs,” he wrote. He also raised concerns about AI-generated misinformation—and particularly its impact on children and young people—as well as the concentration of power in the developing technological field among a small number of companies.
Even as he warned against dangers posed by the technology, however, Leo also described AI’s potential as a “gift that can alleviate suffering and open up new possibilities”—provided, he contended, that it is directed toward human-centered values rather than profits or concentrated control.
He urged taking action to counter various risks he believes AI carries, including education to help people—and particularly students—better grapple with increasing AI use and subjecting the technology’s use in warfare to “the most rigorous ethical constraints.”
Beyond regulatory safeguards, he called for what he described as “disarming” AI by “freeing” it from economic and military competition and “monopolistic control” and exposing it to wider discussion and debate.
“What is needed,” he wrote, “is a more active political involvement that is capable of slowing things down when everything is accelerating, and of protecting the opportunities for communities still to be able to participate and ask questions.”
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