It is the 1st document of its kind from Leo 14; it was signed on May 15 and had contributions from technology companies
Pope Leo 14 publishes his first encyclical this Monday (May 25, 2026). Called “Magnificent Humanity”the document will be about the protection of the human person in the era of artificial intelligence. The text was signed on May 15, the 135th anniversary of the encyclical “New Things”from Leo 13, a landmark in the social doctrine of the Catholic Church.
The presentation will be held at 11:30 am, local time (6:30 am Brasília time), in the Synodal Hall, in the Vatican, with the presence of the Pope. Cardinals Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development, will participate.
The event will also feature experts linked to the debate on technology and ethics. Among them, Christopher Olah, co-founder of Anthropic, the company responsible for the artificial intelligence assistant Claude, and a researcher in the field of AI interpretability. Anna Rowlands, theologian and professor at Durham University, in the United Kingdom, and Leocadie Lushombo, professor of political theology and Catholic social thought at the Jesuit School of Theology in Santa Clara, California, will also participate.
The document will address the impacts of AI on human dignity, work, decision-making and the military use of technology. Leo 14 has criticized the use of systems capable of transferring decisions about life and death to machines. For the pontiff, delegating this type of choice to algorithms represents a serious ethical risk.
The Vatican mentions concerns about AI tools applied to identifying targets in armed conflicts. Data analysis, facial recognition and communications tracking systems are already used in wars, such as in Ukraine and the Middle East. The Holy See states that the diffusion of these technologies requires human supervision and clear moral criteria.
The rapprochement between the Vatican and technology companies dates back to previous years. Microsoft, IBM and Cisco signed the Rome Appeal for AI Ethics in 2020, an initiative of the Pontifical Academy for Life.
In the case of Anthropic, Olah’s participation is linked to the company’s work on security and interpretation of AI models.
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