Pope Leo should address the rise of AI in a letter released this Monday (25)

Pope Leo XIV will address the rise of artificial intelligence in his first in-depth text, exposing his concerns in the encyclical presented on Monday (25), the Vatican said.

The document will likely condemn the use of AI in war and address how the technology is challenging workers' rights, according to sources.

It will be titled "Magnifica Humanitas" (Magnificent Humanity) and was formally signed by the Pope on Friday (15), a Vatican statement said.

Leo XIV, the first American pope, will participate in a presentation of the text at the Vatican, a break with papal tradition. Chris Olah, co-founder of AI company Anthropic, will also be present at the event.

Normally, popes do not present their writings in public, leaving this task to Vatican cardinals and press officers.

Encyclicals are one of the highest forms of teaching from a pontiff to the Church's 1.4 billion faithful.

"A pope's first encyclical usually outlines his priorities, focusing on what he considers serious social and moral issues for the modern world," said John Thavis, a retired Vatican correspondent who covered three papacies.

The statement stated that the text will address "the protection of the human person in the era of artificial intelligence".

Workers' rights
Leo XIV has spoken out vehemently in recent weeks against the direction taken by world leadership and angered US President Donald Trump by criticizing the US and Israeli war against Iran.

The document, which has been months in the making, is expected to address a range of social issues and could offer the Church's most comprehensive guidance on workers' rights in decades.

Leo XIV signed the text on May 15, on the 135th anniversary of an encyclical by Pope Leo XIII, which called for better wages and working conditions for workers.

Leo XIV completed a year of papacy on May 8 and warned several times about the risks of AI.

He condemned its use in war in a speech at Europe's largest university last week, citing conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza, Lebanon and Iran as examples of the "inhumane evolution of the relationship between war and new technologies into a spiral of annihilation."

Leo XIV's invitation to Olah may reflect the company's research into the mechanisms involved in the neural networks that underlie AI.

Anthropic has run afoul of the Trump administration, notably by insisting on safeguards that restrict the use of its models for military purposes, such as autonomous weapons targeting or domestic surveillance.

The pontiff released another important document in his first year of the papacy, concluding an apostolic exhortation started by Pope Francis that called for sweeping changes to the global market system to combat growing wealth inequality.

The last encyclical was published by Francis in October 2024. In it, Catholics were exhorted to abandon the "unbridled search" for money and to dedicate themselves to their faith.

Source: CNN