The Pope Wrote an Encyclical About AI. And Brought Anthropic With Him.
Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, was released on May 25. It is entirely about artificial intelligence. The Pope issues encyclicals rarely, and the choice of subject for a first one is a deliberate signal. Dedicating it to AI tells you how seriously the Catholic Church is taking what is coming. Leo frames AI as the Industrial Revolution of our time, with the same potential to reshape labour, dignity, and the structure of society. The encyclical leans on two biblical metaphors: the Tower of Babel for unchecked technological ambition, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls for collaborative human effort. Its core position is that technology is never neutral. It carries the values of whoever builds, funds, and deploys it. ...