Robust regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) and its human developers is essential for the common good to be served rather than naked, undisguised profit. Pope Leo XIV made this clarion call Monday, issuing a sweeping manifesto on safeguarding humankind as AI technology spreads into almost every facet of existence.
“Magnifica Humanitas” (Magnificent Humanity), Leo’s first major encyclical, has been eagerly awaited ever since history’s first U.S.-born pope announced days after his election that he considered AI to be the biggest challenge facing humanity today, AP reports. The outlet noted:
In the text, Leo denounced the “culture of power” driving the AI race, especially in developing ever more sophisticated methods of remote warfare.
He declared that it was “not permissible” to entrust irreversible, lethal decisions to AI systems, setting up another flash point between the American pope and the Trump administration, which has worked aggressively to deregulate AI development.
Drawing on a biblical narrative, the pope warned with AI, humanity risks building a “Tower of Babel,” which was an attempt for people to “make a name” for themselves with a single power and one language.
The pope says the story is a warning against a plan that “dominates and ultimately dehumanizes,” insisting instead that diverse opinions and groups should contribute to AI’s development, a continuation of his previous efforts to highlight AI and its future role in contemporary society.
Voices from the tech industry alongside academia and Catholic morality agreed the document will likely become a benchmark in the debate over AI, a point of reference for policymakers, researchers and ordinary folk alike.
It comes as the near-daily developments in the technology trigger concerns rise over AI replacing human jobs and even human intelligence, AP notes.
“It lends itself to people who are at the forefront of these tools and able to see the incredible things that they’re able to do, to have questions about their own ‘What does it mean to be human?’” said Taylor Black, a Microsoft AI executive and director of Catholic University of America’s AI institute.
A person holds in his hands the Encyclical Letter “Magnifica Humanitas” focused on the rise of artificial intelligence, on the day of its promulgation by Pope Leo XIV, in The Vatican on May 25, 2026. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP via Getty Images)
An encyclical is traditionally a letter sent by the pope to the bishops and the wider Roman Catholic Church although in this instance the entreaty has targeted everyone.
Leo XIV’s document on AI is being seen as a similarly landmark text for his papacy, and as addressing an epoch-defining topic which he addressed to Catholics and “every person of goodwill.”