{"slug": "pope-leo-calls-for-being-profoundly-human-in-the-age-of-ai", "title": "Pope Leo calls for being ‘profoundly human’ in the age of AI", "summary": "Pope Leo XIV released his first major papal encyclical, *Magnifica Humanitas*, on Monday, warning of the risks of artificial intelligence and calling for new legal and ethical frameworks to govern the technology. The document addresses AI-powered warfare, labor displacement, and threats to human dignity, urging society to prioritize human conscience and freedom over technological power. The 42,000-word letter proposes specific safeguards, including human oversight of lethal force and protections for workers, as the pontiff frames responsible AI adoption as an exercise of care for the human family.", "body_md": "Pope Leo XIV warned of the risks of AI and unconstrained technological power in his first major papal document released on Monday. [ Magnifica Humanitas](https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/encyclicals/documents/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.html) is the pope’s manifesto on “safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence,” in which he discusses the dangers of AI-powered warfare, the effects of AI on labor, and the need for new legal and ethical frameworks to govern technology.\n\n# Pope Leo calls for being ‘profoundly human’ in the age of AI\n\nThe pope’s first major manifesto, published Monday, calls for a new legal and ethical framework to govern AI.\n\nThe pope’s first major manifesto, published Monday, calls for a new legal and ethical framework to govern AI.\n\nIn his papal encyclical — a kind of open letter from the Catholic Church — Pope Leo stressed the economic and social upheaval that rapid AI adoption is creating, with inadequate protections for individuals that threaten human dignity. He compared the current era of AI to the Tower of Babel, saying society must “avoid the ‘Babel syndrome,’” which he defines as “the idolatry of profit that sacrifices the weak, a uniformity that neutralizes differences, and the pretense that a single language — even a digital one — can translate everything, including the mystery of the person, into data and performance.”\n\nPope Leo’s letter touches on major areas of modern life that AI has become deeply embedded in: job loss and labor generally, AI-powered warfare, and children being exposed to AI tools and content, among other topics. Above all, the encyclical calls for the dignity of humans to be a central part of decision-making and governance. The letter is an appeal for “moral and social discernment that safeguards the primacy of the human person, in order to ensure that it will always be human intelligence, with its conscience and freedom, that guides technical innovations and responsibly determines their use and limits,” Leo writes.\n\nThe letter, which runs more than 42,000 words, frames the call for “prudence, rigorous evaluation and even, at times, a slower pace in adopting AI” as “an exercise of responsible care for the human family.” Among some of the proposals:\n\n- A social criteria for introducing automation and AI, along with protections and retraining programs for workers\n- Humans, not opaque technological systems, should make decisions about when to use lethal force\n- Help for teachers and students to engage with new technology in responsible, critical, and creative ways\n- Transparency and accountability when algorithms are used to make decisions around hiring or access to services and opportunities\n- Develop more environmentally sustainable AI technology\n\nThe effects of AI on humanity have been a defining issue for Pope Leo: He [chose his papal name](/news/664719/pope-leo-xiv-artificial-intelligence-concerns) in reference to the industrial revolution, during which his predecessor, Pope Leo XIII, [issued his own encyclical](https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum.html) on protecting workers amid technological advancements. Pope Leo has also been engaging with the AI industry — Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah was present when the pope presented his encyclical on Monday. *Politico *[reported](https://www.politico.eu/article/pope-leo-xiv-ai-meetings-silicon-valley-vatican/) that representatives from Amazon, Meta, and Google have met with Vatican officials ahead of the publication of Monday’s encyclical as the tech industry tries to influence the church’s positions. (There’s also a subset [trying to “AGI-pill” the pope](/ai-artificial-intelligence/829813/ai-agi-pope-leo); *Magnifica Humanitas* doesn’t explicitly mention artificial general intelligence.)\n\nThe encyclical isn’t a blanket objection to AI. Rather, Pope Leo calls for the “disarming” of the technology — both in a military sense and also economic and societal sense. AI shouldn’t be used for a race to amass power or monopolize society, he says.\n\n“To disarm means discrediting the assumption that technical power automatically confers the right to govern. To disarm does not mean rejecting technology, but preventing it from dominating humanity.”\n\n**Follow topics and authors** from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.\n\n## Most Popular\n\n- Google’s new anything-to-anything AI model is wild\n- Apple’s latest MacBook Air is $200 off in both sizes for Memorial Day\n- If I could only have one laptop for work and gaming, I’d get this one\n- On Trails is a wandering tale that blends hiking, science, and history\n- The man behind the legendary MPC, Roger Linn, stays focused with a single browser tab", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/pope-leo-calls-for-being-profoundly-human-in-the-age-of-ai", "canonical_source": "https://www.theverge.com/news/936945/pope-leo-letter-encyclical-ai-anthropic-labor-warfare", "published_at": "2026-05-25 15:05:07+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-05-25 15:32:49.605000+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-ethics", "ai-policy", "ai-safety"], "entities": ["Pope Leo XIV", "Catholic Church"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/pope-leo-calls-for-being-profoundly-human-in-the-age-of-ai", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/pope-leo-calls-for-being-profoundly-human-in-the-age-of-ai.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/pope-leo-calls-for-being-profoundly-human-in-the-age-of-ai.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/pope-leo-calls-for-being-profoundly-human-in-the-age-of-ai.jsonld"}}