Pope Leo XIV warns AI must be slowed

In his first encyclical since becoming pope last year, Pope Leo XIV argues that artificial intelligence is not inherently immoral—but he calls for slowing its adoption, protecting displaced workers, and keeping democratic control from concentrating in the hand

Monday morning, the Roman Catholic Church moved from sermon and debate into the policy-sized language of an encyclical—one that treats artificial intelligence as a moral and political test, not just a new technology to be applauded.

In the first encyclical of his papacy, titled Magnifica humanitas, Pope Leo XIV said AI is not intrinsically immoral. But he argued its adoption needs to be slowed so the world can build moral guardrails. establish better social safety nets for people displaced by economic and labor disruptions. and create democratic processes that keep the public in control rather than letting “a small subset of tech oligarchs” shape the direction of AI’s development.

The document also makes a striking claim at the center of its worldview: the “intelligence” in artificial intelligence is a misnomer. Intelligence, it argues, belongs to human persons alone, and technology will never be human. The encyclical frames its message around the uniqueness of humanity. the dignity of work. and the challenges AI poses to the world order and to human relationships with each other and God.

Magnifica humanitas was signed after Pope Leo XIV took office, and it was released Monday. It is the first encyclical of the papacy and arrives just over a week after he signed it on May 15. The timing matters to the Church because May 15 marked 135 years since the release of Rerum Novarum. the seminal work of Pope Leo XIII. the current pope’s namesake. who was leading the church during the late stages of the Industrial Revolution.

Rerum Novarum. the encyclical’s release notes reflect. made philosophical arguments about the relationship between labor and capital and warned about the perils of communism. It also redefined the church’s relationship to the modern world. reasserting the papacy as both a source of power and moral authority during an era of rapid change—an approach Pope Leo XIV is now trying to repeat with AI.

In presenting Magnifica humanitas, the pope leaned into that parallel directly. While presenting the encyclical. Pope Leo XIV said: “Like the earlier Leo. I feel entrusted to look upon another huge transformation with eyes of faith. with lucidity of reason. with openness to mystery and with cries of the poor and the earth resounding in my heart.”.

Though popes are traditionally not present during the release of these documents—encyclicals are issued by popes to bishops after consultation with theologians. historians. and experts on matters affecting humanity or the church—Leo XIV attended the presentation and delivered his own comments. Vatican observers indicated his presence reflected a desire to make sure the Church’s stance was properly understood.

The pope’s presentation included AI experts and industry leaders, among them Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah, who consulted on the document. Pope Leo XIV, who is Chicago-born, spoke in English.

There is another layer to how the encyclical lands. The pope used the occasion to make a historic formal apology for the Church’s previous defense and justification of slavery—an acknowledgment that the Catholic Church has not always been on the right side of social ills. The apology. coming in the same moment as the AI teaching effort. underscores how the Church sees its own authority: powerful. but also accountable.

Pope Leo XIV’s message is also shaped by what came before. Just last year. in the twilight of Pope Francis’s pontificate. the Vatican released a teaching note titled Antiqua et nova. laying groundwork for Leo’s encyclical. That 2025 document established that the Church is not opposed to the development of AI. It argued that technological progress and scientific discoveries are part of the natural way humans honor God—created in God’s image—and an outpouring of God’s gift of reason and rationality.

But Antiqua et nova also drew a line: it insisted artificial intelligence should be distinguished from human intelligence and that machines that analyze data and perform processes must serve humanity rather than the other way around. It emphasized risks to the ability, right to, and dignity of work—especially for the least well off.

Magnifica humanitas leans on that moral framing as it pushes into the practical. Using the biblical parable of the Tower of Babel, the encyclical warns against hubris and the idolatry of profit. It includes Pope Leo XIV’s words: “We must. then. avoid the ‘Babel syndrome. ’ namely the idolatry of profit that sacrifices the weak.” The document warns that the dehumanization risk is not new. writing: “The risk of dehumanization — of building a future that excludes God and reduces the other to a means — is an ancient and ever-new temptation that today takes on a technical guise.”.

Those job-market stakes are not an abstract fear in the encyclical. Dan Rober. an associate professor of Catholic Studies at Sacred Heart University. told me the pope is concerned the world won’t just “submit to inevitability” but will ask critical questions and push back in time. Rober also said the pope is particularly focused on “the possible implications. particularly for job markets and for people’s lifestyles being sustainable day to day” as AI systems could automate a significant number of jobs very rapidly.

That focus connects to a broader way the Vatican operates: decision-making through consensus—synodality—has defined the Church’s leadership across the last two papacies. In the encyclical’s thrust. synodality becomes a counterweight to a future where politics. the economy. and society are shaped by AI and the technologists who create it.

The Church also brings another concern into the debate: AI could become a middle layer between people and God—or even a competing religious force. Rober told me people might begin using AI as a therapist. and he said “you could see a way in which AI becomes its own kind of religion.” He connected that to the religious overtones some technology leaders use. citing how “a lot of the Silicon Valley founders talk about” the singularity.

In Magnifica humanitas, those tensions are translated into a set of recommendations and limits aimed at both institutions and individuals.

The encyclical lays out three broad categories of teaching: regulations on how AI is developed and how individuals adopt it; responses required to handle AI’s economic effects; and limits on AI’s usage in war.

Among the practical recommendations. Pope Leo XIV calls for a “more active” democratic process for deciding how AI will develop—one that can slow down acceleration and protect communities’ ability to participate and ask questions. He also calls for regulation of how companies collect and use personal data. saying it “should not be treated as something to be sold off or entrusted to a select few.”.

Education is another pillar. The encyclical urges better education of adults, teachers, and young people so they use AI responsibly and avoid sexual exploitation, blackmail, grooming, and disinformation.

It adds an environmental dimension tied to infrastructure, arguing for environmental regulations because AI infrastructure affects the natural world.

Labor and social protections sit at the heart of the message. The encyclical calls for governments to protect access to. and the dignity of. work. provide job training and professional help to workers affected by AI disruptions. and redistribute the wealth and value created by AI to those it displaces. It also asks labor unions and organizations to be flexible. saying they should “be open to new types of employment and the corresponding needs of workers. in order to represent and defend them.”.

The encyclical’s reach extends to the battlefield. It pushes for new rules of war and accountability for AI usage in combat. grounded in “just war” theory becoming obsolete as warfare grows more automated. The encyclical warns: “When a decision to strike becomes automated or opaque. the risk of abdicating responsibility increases.” It adds that the chain of responsibility must be “identifiable and verifiable. ” and says those who design. train. authorize. and employ technology must be held accountable for their decisions.

It also calls for “a new international compact” to prevent “the technological arms race” and to ensure “robust protection for civilians and the infrastructures necessary for their survival.”

For many readers. the document may read like something far more detailed than a typical moral appeal—heavy on practical prescriptions and specifics that could fit a classroom or a secular policy background. That is part of the point. Pope Leo XIV appears to be aiming for guidance that leaders and ordinary people can use. not just theology that stays in an intellectual lane.

Through Magnifica humanitas. the Church wants the faithful—and the wider public—to be reminded that whatever AI offers is not reality. not personhood. and not God. It is a tool, the encyclical argues, that should not dominate or determine the lives of those who use it. It should not replace the Church’s role in teaching morality and ethics.

At the same time. the encyclical makes its plea to a wider world: people should have a say in how AI shapes daily life. they should not allow business and tech leaders to define the terms of existence through their machines. and the Roman Catholic Church wants to stand alongside secular society in efforts to preserve human dignity amid a technological change unprecedented in scale.

Pope Leo XIV Magnifica humanitas artificial intelligence AI ethics Catholic Church encyclical job displacement democratic control personal data AI in war