Pope Leo XIV Issues Encyclical on Artificial Intelligence and Human Dignity

Pope Leo XIV signed the encyclical Magnifica Humanitas at the Vatican on May 15, 2026. The document runs approximately 52 pages and addresses the effects of artificial intelligence on human dignity. Rappler reported that the encyclical is one of the highest forms of teaching from a pontiff to the church at large.

The text examines how AI development creates societal upheaval and runs counter to aspects of Christian life, including the displacement of workers worldwide and the depersonalization of war. ” “When it becomes the standard by which everything is judged, it begins to dictate what matters and what can be discarded, reducing creation to an object of exploitation and human beings to mere cogs in a system driven toward ever greater efficiency,” the encyclical states.

Pope Leo XIV wrote that “to disarm” means to change the paradigm from one of competition to cooperation.

“Disarming AI means freeing it from the mentality of ‘armed’ competition, which today is not limited simply to the military context, but is also an economic and cognitive phenomenon,” he stated. “To disarm does not mean rejecting technology, but preventing it from dominating humanity,” the encyclical continues.

” “The quality of a civilization is measured not by the power of its means, but by the care it is able to offer, by its ability to recognize the other as a face not merely as a function,” Pope Leo XIV wrote.

In chapter 4, the encyclical states that “various forms of servitude directly linked to the digital economy” exist. ” Pope Leo XIV stated that technology built on exploitation of conflict minerals, rare earth elements, and digital trafficking stands in contradiction to human dignity. “This reality deeply challenges the moral conscience of our time,” the encyclical reads.

Rappler published an article titled “My 3 favorite takeaways from ‘Magnifica Humanitas’” by Victor Barreiro Jr. on May 31, 2026.