Pope Leo XIV issued a sweeping warning Monday on the rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI), declaring that control of the technology must not remain restricted to “a few” and calling for the urgent disarmament of AI to prevent it from fueling global conflict and dominating humanity.
The directives were outlined in Magnifica Humanitas (“Magnificent Humanity”), the first major theological encyclical of his pontificate. Signed on May 15, 2026 — exactly 135 years after Pope Leo XIII’s landmark industrial-era text Rerum Novarum — the 235-page manifesto addresses both Catholics and “every person of goodwill.” It marks the most significant institutional response to AI by a major global religious body to date.
Breaking long-standing Vatican tradition, the Chicago-born pontiff personally presented the document alongside Chris Olah, co-founder of Anthropic. Olah, whose company is currently locked in a legal dispute with the Trump administration over military technology use, said implications go “far beyond scientific questions” and risk a catastrophic “race to the bottom” without ethical constraints.
In the text, Pope Leo directly challenges the tech sector, issuing a “special appeal” to developers who bear “a particular ethical and spiritual responsibility.” He rejects the philosophies of transhumanism and posthumanism, asserting that AI is not morally neutral.
“Every technical tool embodies choices and priorities through what it measures, ignores and optimizes,” the Pope wrote, warning that humanity risks building a modern “Tower of Babel” that threatens to dehumanize society.
The encyclical heavily emphasizes the dangers of AI in warfare, subjecting its use to “the most rigorous ethical constraints.” Pope Leo declared the traditional Christian “just war” doctrine “outdated,” insisting military force be reserved strictly for self-defense.
“No algorithm can make war morally acceptable,” he wrote, warning that automated weaponry lowers the threshold for violence by “reducing victims to data.”
The Pope also condemned the political impacts of AI, specifically targeting deepfakes and image manipulation used to distort public perspective. Leo revealed he previously blocked a proposed “papal avatar” intended to hold automated private audiences.
To ensure the document moves beyond rhetoric, Pope Leo has established a cross-department Vatican commission to actively monitor technological developments. Vatican officials hope the text mirrors the global impact of Pope Francis’s 2015 climate encyclical, Laudato Si’, by inspiring concrete international policy, robust legal frameworks, and independent oversight to protect human dignity and labor.
Beyond technology, the encyclical serves as a broader humanitarian critique. Pope Leo offered a historic, comprehensive apology for the Catholic Church’s historical role in legitimizing slavery, drawing direct, stark parallels between historical transatlantic slavery and emerging “new digital slaveries” and “digital colonialism.” He argued that society risks replicating past failures by normalizing the exploitation of people in modern tech production and applications.
Additionally, the Pope identified the treatment of migrants and refugees as the ultimate “litmus test” for modern social justice.
“Most people agree with what Pope Leo said. We must make AI work for people, not against them,” said Lauri Kien Kotcher, CEO and co-founder of Different Day. “The most successful CEOs navigating this transformation will recognize that, and emerge as leaders who demonstrate what the best AI future looks like for everyone.”
The manifesto’s release highlights deep, ongoing geopolitical tensions between the Vatican and Washington. U.S. Vice President JD Vance recently warned the Pope to “be careful when he talks about matters of theology” following papal criticisms of joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran. Furthermore, the Trump administration has maintained a hands-off regulatory approach, recently postponing an executive order to review advanced AI models.
“Pope Leo’s choice to issue his first encyclical on the threat of unregulated AI is a testament to the urgency of this issue for working people,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said in a statement. “Workers are being surveilled, fired, hurt, and have even died in workplaces that recklessly use AI without guardrails and worker input. It’s clear that if we don’t harness it properly, AI is the single biggest threat to working people of our lifetime.”
