Pope Leo XIV Addresses Church's Role in Slavery, AI Ethics in First Encyclical

Pope Leo XIV released his first encyclical on Monday, apologizing for the Catholic Church's historical role in legitimizing slavery and addressing the ethical implications of artificial intelligence. " The pope wrote that ecclesiastical institutions held slaves in antiquity and the Middle Ages, and that the Apostolic See regulated and legitimized forms of subjugation in the early modern period.

Leo noted that a formal condemnation of slavery was not clearly articulated until the nineteenth century under Pope Leo XIII. He stated that slavery was long tolerated before being unequivocally condemned and that it took eighteen centuries for its full incompatibility with Church teachings to be recognized.

"This constitutes a wound in Christian memory, one from which we cannot consider ourselves detached," the pope wrote. He added that it is impossible not to feel deep sorrow when contemplating the suffering endured by so many people. "For this, in the name of the Church, I sincerely ask for pardon," he stated.

The encyclical also focuses on the rise of artificial intelligence and the need to protect human dignity in the digital age. Leo warned that AI could produce both new forms of emancipation and new forms of global subordination. "The fight against new forms of slavery is a decisive test for the ethical discernment of AI and digital transformation," the pope wrote.

He highlighted the invisible labor of data labeling, model training, and content moderation, as well as the extraction of resources required for AI devices. "In some regions of the world, children and adolescents work in dangerous conditions, crushing the materials from which rare earth elements are extracted," he added.

Leo also warned about new forms of colonialism, including the collection and control of health data. >"A significant part of the digital economy's functioning relies on the silent work of millions of people engaged in essential yet largely unseen activities, such as data labeling, model training and content moderation, often involving disturbing material.