VATICAN CITY – Pope Leo XIV has released his first encyclical, a sweeping document on artificial intelligence that calls for stronger regulation of emerging technologies and warns against allowing machines, corporations and governments to erode human dignity.
The encyclical, titled Magnifica Humanitas, was released Monday at the Vatican and immediately positioned the Catholic Church at the center of the global debate on AI, labor, warfare and human identity.
The 82 page document argues that humanity stands at a crossroads similar to the Industrial Revolution, but with even greater consequences because artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping work, communication, politics and war.
Opening the encyclical with stark biblical imagery, Pope Leo warns humanity against building “a new Tower of Babel” through unchecked technological ambition. Instead, he calls for a future rooted in solidarity, justice and human relationships.
“Humanity, created by God in all its grandeur, is today facing a pivotal choice,” the pope writes, contrasting a civilization driven by domination and profit with one built on communion and the common good.
The encyclical marks the first major doctrinal text dedicated entirely to artificial intelligence by a pope. It spans five chapters and examines issues ranging from unemployment and education to cryptocurrencies, surveillance, cyber warfare and digital addiction.
Pope Leo insists that technology itself is not evil, acknowledging that scientific advances have improved human life across centuries. But he warns that AI has concentrated enormous power in the hands of private corporations and wealthy states.
“It is necessary to establish adequate regulatory tools capable of upholding justice and curbing the distorting effects of technological power,” the encyclical says.
The pope repeatedly criticizes what he calls the “idolatry of profit” and warns that people are increasingly being evaluated according to efficiency, productivity and optimization rather than their inherent dignity.
He argues that every person possesses dignity that cannot be reduced to data, economic output or technological usefulness. “The value of persons does not depend on what they achieve or produce,” the document states.
One of the encyclical’s strongest sections focuses on warfare and the use of AI in military systems. Pope Leo condemns autonomous weapons and says decisions involving life and death must never be delegated entirely to machines.
The document also calls into question traditional understandings of “just war” in light of modern technologies that make violence increasingly remote and impersonal. The pope warns that AI could normalize conflict by distancing societies from the human cost of war.
At the same time, the pontiff appeals directly to software developers, researchers and political leaders to slow down and reflect on the moral consequences of the systems they are building.
“Technological innovation can represent human participation in the divine act of creation,” he writes, adding that developers therefore carry “ethical and spiritual responsibility” for the technologies they design.
The encyclical places strong emphasis on Catholic social teaching, drawing heavily from the 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum by Pope Leo XIII, which addressed workers’ rights during the Industrial Revolution. Pope Leo XIV presents AI as the defining social issue of the modern age in much the same way industrialization shaped the 19th century.
The pope also references thinkers and figures including St. Augustine, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King Jr. and Maria Montessori.
Beyond politics and economics, the document addresses ordinary family life, cautioning against excessive screen time, digital dependency and the weakening of real human relationships. The pope encourages young people to seek wisdom, cultivate community and spend time with the poor and lonely.
He also frames the digital world as “a new continent to be evangelized,” urging Christians not to retreat from technology but to shape it ethically and spiritually.
The release of the encyclical has already drawn attention from technology executives, ethicists and policymakers. During the Vatican presentation, AI industry leaders and academics described the document as a major moral intervention in debates surrounding artificial intelligence.
The encyclical concludes with a call for personal conversion and collective responsibility. Pope Leo urges humanity to reject technological arrogance and instead become “builders of communion, rather than architects of Babel.”
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