Pope to Release Major Artificial Intelligence Manifesto

Pope Leo XIV will unveil *Magnifica Humanitas* (Magnificent Humanity), his first encyclical, at the Vatican on May 15, marking a major Catholic stance on artificial intelligence. The document, a follow-up to the 1891 social doctrine of Leo XIII, condemns AI’s role in lethal autonomous warfare and mass surveillance, calling such applications a 'destructive spiral' that risks eroding human dignity. Leo, the Church’s first US pope, has repeatedly criticized AI’s environmental impact, particularly the extraction of rare earth minerals for electronics, and its potential to replace reality with simulations. The encyclical was drafted with input from AI experts, including Anthropic’s co-founder, amid ongoing legal disputes between the startup and the US military over its refusal to adapt its Claude model for military use. The Vatican frames the text as a 'wake-up call' for civilization, emphasizing the need for digital literacy to counter algorithmic bias and polarization. Leo has previously warned that AI-driven conflict and lack of transparency in chatbot algorithms threaten democratic discourse. *Magnifica Humanitas* builds on Pope Francis’s 2015 climate manifesto, *Laudato Si*, by extending Catholic social teaching to the AI era. The Vatican’s 2020 *Rome Appeal for an AI Ethic* laid groundwork for the document, urging respect for human dignity in technological development. Scholars like Marijana Grbesa of the University of Zagreb highlight parallels to the Industrial Revolution, stressing the need for education and ethical frameworks to navigate AI’s societal disruptions. The UN estimates AI could reach $4.8 trillion by 2033, exacerbating wealth concentration, while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged swift global governance to align AI with peace and justice. Leo’s encyclical positions the Church as a moral authority in shaping AI’s trajectory, demanding accountability from developers and policymakers alike.