Pope Leo XIV urges AI slowdown, warns on war

Pope Leo XIV used his sweeping first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” to call for robust regulation of artificial intelligence, reject lethal AI decisions, and urge developers to slow down for the common good rather than profit.

When Pope Leo XIV stepped to present his first encyclical to the Vatican on Monday, the message landed with unusual force: artificial intelligence should be “disarmed,” restrained by law, and denied the power to make irreversible choices about life and death.

The encyclical. “Magnifica Humanitas” (“Magnificent Humanity”)—Leo’s first encyclical and one of the most authoritative teaching documents a pope can issue—arrives after years of mounting anxiety around AI’s role in work. warfare. and the concentration of power in the private sector. It was eagerly awaited ever since the pope. born in the United States. said days after his election that he considered AI the biggest challenge facing humanity today.

In the text, Leo denounced the “culture of power” driving the AI race and singled out the development of ever more sophisticated methods of remote warfare. He said it was “not permissible” to entrust irreversible, lethal decisions to AI systems.

At a time when the Trump administration has worked aggressively to deregulate AI development, the Vatican’s intervention sets up an immediate flash point—less because the pope is offering a technical fix, and more because he is pushing a moral boundary around what machines should be allowed to do.

“Artificial Intelligence now demands to be disarmed, freed from logics that turn it into an instrument of domination, exclusion and death,” Leo told the special Vatican presentation of the encyclical.

That call to action echoed through his argument that ethics alone are not enough. Leo wrote that it was “not enough to invoke ethics in the abstract; robust legal frameworks. independent oversight. informed users and a political system that does not abdicate its responsibility are required.” He added. “A more moral AI is not enough if that morality is determined by a few.”.

He also urged AI developers and political leaders to slow down and reflect on what they are doing, repeatedly appealing to them to use ethical and spiritual guidelines. In his view, the choice should not be shaped by profit or power, but by what he describes as the betterment of humanity.

Microsoft executive points to the human question

The Vatican launch drew immediate attention not just from church circles but from people embedded in the technology world. Taylor Black. a Microsoft AI executive and director of the Catholic University of America’s AI institute. said the document pushes the people building these tools to ask themselves what it means to be human.

“It lends itself to people who are at the forefront of these tools and able to see the incredible things that they’re able to do, to have questions about their own ‘What does it mean to be human?’” Black said.

That emphasis on the human stakes is exactly what experts say could make the encyclical a benchmark in a rapidly shifting debate. The Near-daily developments in AI have been raising concerns that the technology could replace human jobs—and even human intelligence.

Leo’s critique of concentrated power also lands squarely on the major companies driving the AI boom. AI competitors OpenAI and Anthropic were described in the encyclical’s surrounding coverage as the second- and third-most valuable U.S. private companies, valued at hundreds of billions of dollars each—more than the GDP of many nations.

Anthropic’s co-founder welcomes the criticism

The Vatican’s event also included remarks from Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah, a choice that carried its own political weight. Anthropic is currently locked in a legal battle with the Trump administration over access to its AI technology. The Vatican decided to involve Anthropic as part of its decade-long effort to engage Silicon Valley in dialogue over what AI means for human life.

Olah welcomed Leo’s criticism and concern, saying external checks on AI and the researchers behind it were fundamental to whether the technology “going well” for humankind. He pointed to the scale of what is at risk.

“There is so much at stake — a real possibility that AI will displace human labor at a very large scale,” Olah said.

“We need more of the world — religious communities. civil society. scholars. governments — to do what His Holiness has done here: to take this seriously. to look closely. and to push events in a better direction. ” Olah continued. “We need informed critics who will tell the labs when we are failing. We need moral voices that the incentives cannot bend.”.

But not everyone involved saw the Vatican’s decision in purely celebratory terms. Some critics argued that including Anthropic at the Vatican launch amounted to a stamp of approval for the company. They pointed to the fact that Anthropic is suing the Trump administration after the administration ordered all U.S. agencies to stop using Anthropic’s technology, citing Anthropic’s refusal to allow the U.S. military unrestricted use of it.

Brian Boyd, the U.S. faith liaison for the nonprofit Future of Life Institute, described Olah’s presence differently. He said it felt less like endorsement and more like a recognition that Anthropic is an extremely powerful company racing to replace human workers.

“I think it’s more like a recognition of (how) this is an extremely powerful company that’s currently winning this race to replace human workers,” Boyd said.

Boyd said Anthropic is an “enormous corporation that is taking onto itself an enormous risk and responsibility,” but he also said the company has “demonstrated genuine goodwill and integrity and interest in dialogue.”

Church social teaching meets the digital revolution

The encyclical’s structure is rooted in the Catholic Church’s social justice tradition. Experts said the text traces the history of Catholic social teaching in a methodical way and applies its core concepts—justice. solidarity. the dignity of work. and the universal destination of resources—to the digital revolution.

Paolo Carozza, a law professor at Notre Dame Law School and chair of the Meta oversight board, said the document could become a defining work for the era.

“I am convinced that this will prove to be a defining document for our era, a profound and prophetic document,” Carozza said. He added that Leo was urging responsibility for “constructing a world in which technology will serve humans rather than degrade them.”

One of the encyclical’s strongest lines concerns how AI can normalize war. Leo did not name specific conflicts. but he cited “opposing imperialisms. between powers that wish to preserve their supremacy. and those that aspire to seize that supremacy.” He argued that AI has helped accelerate the desensitization of people to the costs of fighting.

He called for transparency and accountability by AI developers so the chain of decision-making command in ordering strikes with AI weaponry is always known. He also declared that the Catholic Church’s “just war” theory. which lays out specific criteria for when force can be justified. was “outdated” given technological advances in warfare.

The encyclical also ties its message to labor and human dignity. Leo wrote. “The pursuit of greater profits cannot justify choices that systematically sacrifice jobs. because the human person is an end. not a means. and the economic order must remain subordinate to human dignity and the common good.”.

Earlier this year, Leo extended his focus on dignity in labor in another startling way: he issued the first-ever papal apology for the Holy See’s own role in legitimizing slavery, by giving European sovereigns explicit authority to subjugate and enslave “infidels.”

Marked May 15, on the anniversary of “Rerum Novarum”

Leo signed “Magnifica Humanitas” on May 15. the 135th anniversary of the publication of “Rerum Novarum” (“Of New Things”). the most important teaching document of Pope Leo XIII. That earlier document addressed workers’ rights. the limits of capitalism. and the obligations that states and employers owed workers as the Industrial Revolution took hold.

Leo’s current message. as he frames it. continues a century-long pattern of popes adapting “Rerum Novarum” to the social questions of their time—often returning to the dignity of work as a cornerstone of human flourishing. At the start of his pontificate. Leo cited “Rerum Novarum” in relation to the AI revolution. describing it as raising the same existential questions once posed by the Industrial Revolution.

Vatican officials declined to say who exactly contributed to the encyclical. Still, the Vatican and church officials have been engaged in dialogue with Silicon Valley tech firms for a decade. Toward the end of Pope Francis’s pontificate. he began speaking more often about AI and the risks it poses to humanity.

The encyclical arrives as AI debate deepens between two competing visions of the future: one in which the technology enriches humanity, and another in which it becomes a “technological toxin” that dulls human intelligence while wiping out millions of high-paying jobs.

The decision at the heart of Leo’s message is blunt: robust legal frameworks. independent oversight. informed users. and political responsibility are needed now—not later. And he warns that allowing concentrated power in the private sector to set the terms will put the most vulnerable at risk. even as the technology spreads into everything from work to war.

Pope Leo XIV Magnifica Humanitas AI regulation artificial intelligence Vatican remote warfare just war theory Anthropic Trump administration encyclical