Pope Leo XIV signed his first encyclical on May 15, 2026 — exactly 135 years after Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum tackled the dehumanizing factory conditions of the Industrial Revolution. The new Leo deliberately chose that date to draw the parallel. Industrial capital then. AI now. Same fundamental question: when a new technology reshapes how people live and work, what does it mean to remain human?
Why this matters even if you’re not Catholic
Magnifica Humanitas — Latin for “magnificent humanity” — is one of the few major institutional voices stepping into the AI conversation that isn’t run by tech companies, isn’t trying to sell you something, and isn’t operating on a quarterly earnings cycle. It comes from an institution that has been thinking about human dignity, work, and the limits of power for two thousand years. It deserves a few minutes of your attention.
The core argument, in plain English
The Pope rejects two extremes. AI is not inherently evil. It’s also not magically good. As he puts it: “Technology is never neutral, because it takes on the characteristics of those who devise, finance, regulate and use it.” The real choice isn’t “yes” or “no” to AI. It’s about what kind of city we’re building with it.
He uses two biblical images to frame the whole encyclical:
- The Tower of Babel — built on pride, uniformity, and the dream of reaching the heavens without God. It collapsed into confusion.
- Nehemiah rebuilding Jerusalem — done together, brick by brick, after listening to concerns and assigning each person a section.
That’s the choice. Are we building Babel or rebuilding Jerusalem?
What concerns the Pope
He calls out specific dangers — not abstractly, but concretely:
- Algorithmic discrimination — systems that “block access to healthcare, employment and security on the basis of data tainted by prejudice and injustice.”
- Autonomous weapons — increasingly autonomous systems “practically beyond any human reach to govern them effectively.” On this point he is blunt: AI must be disarmed, in the same sense the Church has long called for nuclear disarmament.
- Concentration of power — for the first time in history, the main drivers of transformative technology are private transnational corporations, not governments. They have “resources and the capacity to intervene that surpass those of many Governments.”
- The dignity of work — an entire chapter on what happens to workers when machines reshape the economy.
- Truth in public discourse — AI’s effect on what counts as real, especially in democracy.
What he asks of us
This isn’t a hands-off lecture. The encyclical is structured as a call to action for “all men and women of goodwill.” Five practices the Pope names directly:
- Responsible planning — assess the human and social impact before deploying technology, not after.
- Include the most vulnerable — those most affected by AI are often least represented when decisions get made.
- Promote digital literacy — people can’t have a say in something they don’t understand.
- Guide research and industry toward justice and peace — not just away from harm, but actively toward what is good.
- Build together, not alone — “scientists and researchers, entrepreneurs and workers, educators and legislators, civil society, popular movements and faith communities” each have a section of the wall to build.
The Pope’s own summary: “Like Nehemiah, let us pray, plan wisely and work perseveringly, placing God at the forefront of our actions and the human person at the center of our choices.”
Why Chris Olah’s presence mattered
The unusual thing about the May 25 launch was not the encyclical itself. It was the man sitting next to the Pope. Chris Olah — a self-described atheist, co-founder of the AI company Anthropic, and leader of its mechanistic interpretability research — delivered his own address alongside the Pope. Olah’s argument: AI labs cannot govern themselves. Even well-intentioned researchers operate inside commercial and competitive incentives that pull them away from doing the right thing. Outside scrutiny is essential.
Two unlikely voices, broadly agreeing: the people building AI cannot be the only ones deciding what AI becomes.
Read the source documents
- Magnifica Humanitas — full encyclical → The complete text. Long but readable. About 30+ pages.
- Pope Leo XIV’s launch address → The shorter speech he gave at the public launch, alongside Olah. About 1,500 words. The “AI must be disarmed” line comes from here.
- Antiqua et Nova → Earlier doctrinal note from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (January 2025). 117 paragraphs on AI and human intelligence — predates and complements the encyclical.
Have thoughts? Add them below. This is exactly the kind of conversation that needs more voices in it.
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