Pope Leo has issued a landmark encyclical denouncing the “culture of power” behind the rapid development of artificial intelligence, calling for the technology to be subject to the “most rigorous” ethical constraints as it permeates work, warfare and daily life. In the document, titled Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity), the pontiff also apologised for the Catholic church’s historical delay in condemning slavery, describing it as “a wound in Christian memory”.
Breaking with tradition, Pope Leo personally presented the encyclical on Monday at the Vatican, an event attended by Christopher Olah, co-founder of the US-based AI firm Anthropic, which is currently embroiled in a lawsuit with the Trump administration over AI ethics. The pope, who was born in Chicago and is the first US-born pontiff, warned that AI is helping to facilitate the “normalisation of war” and urged the “disarming” of AI to prevent it from dominating humanity.
“Disarming AI means freeing it from the mentality of ‘armed’ competition,” the pope wrote, adding that the technology should be “human-friendly”, accessible to all and open to debate. He cautioned that power over digital systems, infrastructure and data “does not rest with states but with major economic and technological actors”, and that concentration of such power “in the hands of the few” risks creating “new dependencies, exclusions, manipulations and inequalities”.
Christopher Olah echoed these concerns, stating that AI development cannot be left solely to technology companies and urging greater oversight from religious leaders, governments and civil society. He warned of “a real possibility” that AI would displace human labour “at very large scale”, making support for displaced workers “a moral imperative of historic proportions”.
In a historic apology, Pope Leo acknowledged the church’s role in slavery, saying: “It is impossible not to feel deep sorrow when contemplating the immense suffering and humiliation endured by so many … For this, in the name of the church, I sincerely ask for pardon.” The encyclical also addressed “new forms of slavery” arising from the digital economy.
Anna Rowlands, professor of Catholic social thought at Durham University, said the encyclical “brings the vision of the Gospel to bear on the cultures of AI” and “warns of a growing culture of power that is reshaping work, family, education, and political life”. The Vatican has been seriously engaged on AI questions for several years, including regular consultations with experts.
