Pope Leo XIV on Monday released his first papal encyclical, "Magnifica Humanitas" (Magnificent Humanity), a landmark document addressing the ethical, social, and humanitarian challenges posed by artificial intelligence. The text, subtitled "the safeguarding of the human person in the age of artificial intelligence," was presented at the Vatican alongside Holy See officials and tech industry figures, including a co-founder of Anthropic, the American AI startup known for its Claude model. The encyclical marks the first time a pope has attended the in-person presentation of such a document, underscoring the significance Leo XIV attaches to the issue.
The encyclical was deliberately signed on May 15, the 135th anniversary of "Rerum Novarum," an 1891 text by Pope Leo XIII — after whom the current pope named himself — that laid the foundations of the Church's social doctrine during the Industrial Revolution. Vatican officials draw a direct parallel: just as Leo XIII placed the dignity of the worker at the centre of his response to industrialisation, Leo XIV now places the protection of the human person at the heart of his response to what he calls the "algorithmic revolution." Jesuit theologian Antonio Spadaro, a senior Vatican official, summarised the encyclical's thrust: "Not what the machine can do, but what we humans must remain."
The document consolidates concerns Leo has raised repeatedly since his election in May 2025. He has warned against the military use of AI, calling the delegation of life-and-death decisions to machines a "destructive spiral" — a position that resonates with Anthropic's own legal battle after it refused to allow its technology to be used for lethal autonomous warfare. He has also highlighted the "gradual replacement of reality by its simulation," the lack of transparency in the algorithms shaping public discourse, and the environmental cost of rare earth extraction driven by the AI industry's rapid expansion.
Experts suggest the document could carry the cultural weight of Pope Francis's 2015 climate encyclical "Laudato Si," which prompted widespread political and civic debate. The Vatican's engagement with AI is not new: as early as 2016, Church officials began meeting Silicon Valley figures, and in 2020 the Holy See co-signed the "Rome Appeal for an AI Ethic" alongside Microsoft, IBM, and UN agencies. Leo's papacy deepens that engagement, and on May 16 he established a dedicated Vatican commission on AI governance. The UN has estimated that AI could be worth up to $4.8 trillion by 2033, a 25-fold increase in a decade, with profits concentrated among a small number of actors — a dynamic the encyclical directly challenges.
"Magnifica Humanitas" is addressed explicitly to believers and non-believers alike, reflecting the Vatican's belief that it can offer moral authority on questions technology itself cannot answer — particularly the fundamental questions of why AI is being built, and for whom. For Leo, the answer must centre on human dignity, education, and the preservation of human agency in an era of accelerating digital transformation.