Pope Leo XIV issued his first encyclical on Monday covering artificial intelligence. AI risks making civilization "less human," he warned. He also encouraged leaders to "use ethical and spiritual guidelines to make the choice to work not for their own profit or power, but the betterment of humanity." Some religious traditions have embraced AI as an additional teaching tool, while others are wary of using it to interpret religious texts.
Responses to Pope Leo’s encyclical varied. Some worried he would slow down AI development, leaving room for China to outpace the US. Others praised his teaching, saying that these are exactly the type of issues the church should be speaking on. Some thought it was too cautious, representing the stark divide around the technology.
A New Yorker (Left) piece said, “That the concerns the Pope has raised in Magnifica Humanitas’ are not even remotely new does not make them any less urgent. Yet this history does suggest that calls to slow down the development of artificial intelligence and, as Arendt put it, to ‘think what we are doing’ have not been heeded. Then again, before this week, they’ve never been sounded by the Pope, the spiritual leader of nearly a fifth of the world’s population.”
An opinion on Fox News (Right) read, “The Industrial Revolution led to a huge boost in the production of everyday items such as clothes and furniture, and to lower costs…That is the uplifting event in human history that Pope Leo XIII deplored. In the same vein, Pope Leo XIV is opposed to the progress and wealth creation promised by artificial intelligence…Bernie and the pope may shut [AI creators] down, abandoning the field to countries, especially China, which will erect far fewer guardrails to protect humanity. That is a far more frightening prospect.”
A Boston Globe (Left) writer said, “That is why Pope Leo XIV’s framework is so significant. Magnifica Humanitas argues that technological advancement must be centered on human dignity, agency, and connection. The encyclical reminds us that while artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies may be engineered in laboratories and deployed through markets, their consequences will ultimately be measured in human flourishing…This is where an unexpected bridge may be forming. Not between church and state in the traditional sense but between faith and reason, moral leadership and civic leadership, innovation and responsibility, and what we can build and what we should build.”
In National Review Opinion (Right) the editors wrote, “And that is what makes the publication a slight disappointment. At 42,000 words, Magnifica Humanitas is an especially lengthy document for the church. Its ambition is evident in a section that attempts to recapitulate the entire body of Catholic social teaching from the papacy throughout the centuries…We find ourselves unable to resist the temptation to point to the small irony that a pope who has been outspoken against immigration enforcement chose as his biblical example of technology used for godly ends the building of the walls around the city of Jerusalem.”
“Ultimately, the strongest point is made most beautifully in the conclusion, which is a reflection on ‘Mary’s Magnificat.’ If technology carries the biases of those who make, sell, and regulate it, then far too much time is being spent imagining or dreading how AI will enhance the power and prestige of incumbent powers. Far too little effort and imagination have been put into how this technology will benefit the least among us.” They added.
