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Pope Leo Warns of Risks From A.I. in 42,300-Word EncyclicalThe document marks a
powerful foray by the leader of the Roman Catholic church into the debate about
the misuse or overuse of artificial intelligence.Motoko Rich and Elisabetta
Povoledo, N Y Times, May 25, 2026
Pope Leo XIV on Monday set out a sweeping vision for corporate executives,
politicians and individuals who will shape and be shaped by the future of
artificial intelligence, warning leaders to safeguard humanity from A.I.’s most
disruptive effects.
Leo’s declaration came in the form of a papal encyclical, an open letter to
“all people of good will” that ran to roughly 42,300 words in its English
version. It outlined his desire to protect human dignity and agency in an age
in which technology threatens to replace humans in many professional and social
roles. He presented it alongside Christopher Olah, a co-founder of Anthropic, a
major A.I. developer, in a symbolic gesture of dialogue between leaders of the
spiritual and technological worlds.
Leo greeting Christopher Olah, a co-founder of the A.I. developer Anthropic,
before the presentation
While emphasizing that “technology should not be considered, in itself, as a
force antagonistic to humanity,” he wrote that “the pursuit of greater profits
cannot justify choices that systematically sacrifice jobs.”
Among other things, Leo called for:
• Government regulation of the private companies that are driving the
development of A.I.• Protection and retraining for workers whose jobs are
threatened• Education to help students think critically about the technology•
Action to protect children from violent, hypersexualized or fake information
online that is often generated by A.I.• Safeguards to ensure that humans, not
artificial intelligence, remain responsible for all decisions regarding the use
of weapons.
Above all he emphasized the importance of retaining a fundamental social role
for all human beings. “A society that guarantees employment to only a small
fraction of the population, despite having a high level of technical
development, risks exposing many to forced inactivity, a lack of responsibility
and the absence of daily tasks and stimuli, resulting in human and cultural
impoverishment,” he said.
“This creates a paradox of material progress and anthropological regression
that undermines the foundations of a just and stable social peace,” he added.
Clergy, scholars and technology leaders have been expecting the pope’s document
for months, with many anticipating that it would form one of the most
significant moral warnings yet about the misuse or overuse of artificial
intelligence.
A year ago, on his second day as pope, Leo made clear his focus on the perils
of artificial intelligence, telling the College of Cardinals that, under his
leadership, the church would address the risks that the evolving technology
poses to “human dignity, justice and labor.”
He has since repeatedly spoken about A.I., including during a trip to Turkey
and Lebanon, in an address to Catholic university leaders and even when
celebrating the international day of mathematics. Last week, the Vatican
announced it had created a commission of senior Catholic officials to discuss
the challenges posed by A.I.
Pope Francis, Leo’s immediate predecessor, had also warned about the dangers of
artificial intelligence and called for the ethical use of technology.
Although Leo publicly presented his encyclical on Monday, he formally signed it
on May 15, the 135th anniversary of the publication of “Rerum Novarum,” — or
“Of New Things” in English — a major encyclical written in 1891 by his
namesake, Leo XIII.
The pope’s encyclical was timed to prompt comparisons with that earlier
document, which guided Catholic teaching on how to protect workers after the
technological and industrial disruptions of the 19th century.
Written amid the upheaval of the Industrial Revolution, “Rerum Novarum” sought
to safeguard the rights and dignity of the working class and became one of the
foundational texts of modern Catholic social teaching. It called on governments
to “save unfortunate working people from the cruelty of men of greed, who use
human beings as mere instruments for money making,” even as it praised the
“discoveries of science.”
In the new encyclical, titled “Magnifica Humanitas,” or “Magnificent Humanity,”
Leo struck a similar tone, warning of the new threat to workers posed by
artificial intelligence.
Work, he wrote, is more than a way of earning income, but “a requirement of the
human condition, a normal path toward maturity, development and personal
fulfillment.” He called for “the protection of employment opportunities and the
irreplaceable role of the individual.”
Leo expressed concern at how emerging A.I. tools might take over many routine
tasks and jobs, implicitly devaluing those who do not have the training or
ability to perform the work that remains available to humans. Leo wrote of the
importance of preserving human dignity and warned of the “insidious” ideology
that “suggests that every person must earn or justify his or her own worth, to
the point of attributing greater value to those who are more efficient or
effective.”
Unions and charities that were formed to protect workers during the first
industrial revolution, Leo wrote, would not be sufficient to protect laborers
during a technological transition that could leave millions of people
unemployed.
“New collaborative efforts are needed among political leaders, labor
organizations, the business world and the scientific community in order to
develop rapidly adequate shared regulations and protections, including at the
international level,” he wrote.
The encyclical also called for imposing the “most rigorous ethical constraints”
on weapons developed using artificial intelligence, continuing Leo’s — and the
Vatican’s — longstanding opposition to war.
“The growing ease with which autonomous weapons systems can be deployed makes
war more ‘feasible’ and less subject to human control,” Leo wrote. That, he
added, contradicted “the principle that armed force should be used only as a
last resort in cases of legitimate self-defense.”
Although the encyclical includes significant references to scripture and
religious teachings, the document in many ways reads like a policy paper from a
think tank or a lawmaker.
Leo wrote in detail, for example, of the importance of protecting children, who
are particularly susceptible to the warping effects of technology.
“Psychological and psychiatric literature has documented with growing
insistence how early and unsupervised exposure to digital devices and social
media can negatively impact sleep, attention span, control of emotions and
relationships, especially during the most vulnerable stages of life, at times
with tragic consequences,” he wrote.
Parents need support from schools and governments, he said, to help their
children resist the excessive use of A.I., the possibilities of “isolation,
bullying and cyberbullying,” and the pressure “to share intimate images or
sensitive information.”
Scholars are divided about what effect, if any, the document will have on the
technology industry, in which rival tech titans are racing for dominance.
Brian Patrick Green, director of technology ethics at Santa Clara University in
Northern California, said some technology leaders “will have to take it
seriously in a sense,” partly because it provides them with “a moral
imperative.”
Writing in the encyclical, the pope recognized the autonomy of governments and
private companies. The church, he said, “does not claim to supplant the
responsibilities of politics or institutions, but offers itself as a
foundation,” urging other institutions to “recognize and promote whatever
serves the dignity of persons, the vitality of communities and the common good.”
Others said that an encyclical’s primary targets are the clergy and the
faithful.
“I don’t think the ‘tech bros’ in Silicon Valley will listen that much,” said
Prof. Noreen Herzfeld, director of a program on technology and ethics at St.
John’s School of Theology and Seminary in Collegeville, Minn. “But I think
within the church, it will be there as a reference for priests and bishops and
particularly for those of us who are educating seminarians or young people.”
Priests can use the contents of the document to guide conversations with
parishioners who share their concerns about the technological pressures of
modern life, Professor Herzfeld said.
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Motoko Rich is the Times bureau chief in Rome, where she covers Italy, the
Vatican and Greece and Elisabetta Povoledo is a Times reporter based in Rome,
covering Italy, the Vatican and the culture of the region. She has been a
journalist for 35 years.
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