Pope Leo prepares a plan on priorities for AI
Kyiv • UNN
Pope Leo XIV will sign the encyclical Magnifica Humanitas on the impact of AI on labor. The document will protect human rights in the new era of the industrial revolution.
Pope Leo XIV is expected to sign his first encyclical later this month, in which he positions artificial intelligence as the defining moral and labor challenge of the new industrial revolution, Axios reports, according to UNN.
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The document, reportedly titled "Magnifica Humanitas" ("Magnificent Humanity"), will be the Catholic Church's most prominent attempt to place human dignity, labor rights, and ethics at the center of the AI race, the publication writes.
Catholic and European media have reported that Leo is set to sign the AI encyclical on the anniversary of "Rerum Novarum" (1891), the foundational labor encyclical of the industrial era by Pope Leo XIII.
However, the Holy See Press Office told reporters on Friday that the announcement regarding the document will take place on May 22, according to InfoVaticana, a Spanish-language digital news outlet covering Vatican activities.
The encyclical will focus specifically on the impact of AI on "people and working conditions," presenting it as Leo XIV's effort to modernize Catholic social teaching for the AI era, reports the French newspaper Le Monde.
Other reports state that "Magnifica Humanitas" will argue that technology must remain subordinate to humans, rather than the other way around, and that AI systems must protect workers, creativity, and moral agency.
The Vatican has not commented on this but has introduced official AI guidelines and monitoring frameworks within the Vatican.
The late Pope Francis repeatedly warned that AI risks reducing humans to data points and accelerating inequality, surveillance, and autonomous warfare.
The Holy See has also supported the "Rome Call for AI Ethics," an initiative calling for transparency and human-centered AI development.
Encyclicals are among the most important documents issued by a Pope; they are used to set priorities and define how the Catholic Church responds to major global challenges. They often serve as a blueprint for the papacy, signaling which issues will be the focus for the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.
The Vatican has stepped up cybersecurity partnerships and AI oversight efforts, combining defense with diplomacy and ethics.
In February, Leo XIV urged priests not to use AI to write sermons or seek "likes" on social media platforms such as TikTok.
"It is exactly that fear... that machines are replacing human labor. And that is exactly what we are seeing now with artificial intelligence," said Andrew Chesnut, Chair of Catholic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Chesnut said that Leo treats artificial intelligence not so much as a technological trend, but as a repetition of the industrial revolution, where entry-level workers are already "evaporating" due to the acceleration of automation.
"This will be one of the fundamental pillars of his papacy," he noted.
Leo XIV's choice of name looks increasingly like a mission. By referencing Leo XIII, the Pope is clearly drawing parallels between 19th-century industrialization and the AI revolution currently unfolding, Catholic experts say. The Church believes it must once again play a historical role during a period of technological upheaval. The Vatican is making it clear that it does not intend to remain on the sidelines of the AI era, the publication notes.