In 1891, Pope Leo XIII issued the landmark encyclical Rerum Novarum in response to the Industrial Revolution. Exactly 135 years later, Pope Leo XIV published his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, which aims to establish a new moral and social framework for the age of artificial intelligence. The Pope warns that an AI revolution driven by an "idolatry of profit" threatens human dignity and declares that lethal military decisions must never be delegated to automated algorithmic systems.
The encyclical takes direct aim at Silicon Valley monopolies and new forms of digital serfdom. The Pope sharply criticizes the transhumanist vision promoted by tech leaders like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, condemning an elitist tendency in AI development that labels certain people as "inefficient, useless, and redundant." He argues that digital giants are building an "architecture of visibility" through mass data collection to manipulate the public, reducing individuals to exploitable data profiles, and even fostering "new slavery and digital colonialism" in the extraction of rare earth minerals at the bottom of supply chains. Besides calling for the "de-weaponization of AI" to end destructive competition, the Pope also makes an unusually public apology for the Catholic Church's historical failure to condemn the sin of slavery.
During the encyclical's release ceremony, the Vatican broke with tradition by inviting Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah to share the stage with the Pope, aiming to directly impose moral constraints on Silicon Valley model makers. The Pope emphasized that algorithms cannot confer moral legitimacy on war and demanded transparency and the right to appeal in critical decisions involving the military, credit scoring, and public assistance. He also reiterated that the traditional Catholic doctrine of "just war" is obsolete in modern conflicts — a clear rebuttal to politicians like U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who invoked the doctrine to justify American bombing operations in Iran. The Pope further called for deep self-purification within the Catholic Church, cleansing internal structures that have enabled abuse and secrecy in matters of power, sexuality, and conscience.