Pope Leo to issue AI encyclical

Pope Leo XIV has put artificial intelligence at the center of his early papacy, pairing warnings about automated warfare with a broader argument that technology must be judged by its effects on human dignity, labor and responsibility. Reports this week said Leo was expected to sign his first encyclical on Friday, May 15, with artificial intelligence as a central theme, though the Vatican had not publicly posted such a text on the official sites reviewed Friday. (infovaticana.com) (pbs.org) Rome’s La Sapienza University gave the clearest public signal of that agenda on May 14. In a speech there, Leo said the combination of artificial intelligence, military spending and new weapons risked pushing current conflicts into what he called a “spiral of annihilation.” (press.vatican.va) The remarks fit a pattern in Leo’s public statements since taking office. In earlier Vatican messages, he had already said AI must remain a tool, not a substitute for the human person, and had tied its use to questions of ethics, governance and the “integral development of the human person and society.” (infovaticana.com) ### Why is AI emerging so quickly as a signature issue for Leo? May 10, 2025, offered an early clue. In his address to the College of Cardinals, Leo said he chose his papal name partly because Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical *Rerum Novarum* addressed the social question during the first industrial revolution. (pbs.org) That reference matters because *Rerum Novarum* is the foundational text of modern Catholic social teaching on labor, capital and the rights of workers. Reports this week said Leo’s expected encyclical would update that tradition for an era shaped by algorithms, automation and digital power. (vatican.va) ### What exactly did Leo say at La Sapienza? May 14 at La Sapienza was Leo’s first visit to the Rome campus, according to Vatican and AP reporting, and it came with unusually direct language about war. He said events in Ukraine, Gaza, Lebanon and Iran showed “the inhuman evolution of the relationship between war and new technologies in a spiral of annihilation.” (vatican.va) He also called for tighter monitoring of how AI is developed and used in both military and civilian settings so that human beings are not excused from responsibility for their choices. Vatican News said Leo linked those concerns to rising military spending and urged students to become “artisans of true peace.” (infovaticana.com) ### Is Leo talking only about weapons? January 2026 showed the broader frame. In his message for the 60th World Day of Social Communications, Leo said technology must “serve the human person, not replace it,” and warned that AI systems that simulate faces, voices and emotions can erode identity, relationships and responsibility. (pbs.org) A June 2025 Vatican message to an AI conference made the same point in institutional language. Leo said AI has extraordinary potential but must be evaluated against a higher ethical standard: whether it supports a more just and fully human society. He said the Church wanted to take part in those debates because they affect “the present and future of our human family.” (pbs.org) ### How does this connect to the Vatican’s existing AI line? January 28, 2025, marked the publication of *Antiqua et nova*, a Vatican note on artificial intelligence and human intelligence issued by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Dicastery for Culture and Education. The document treated AI as an anthropological and ethical question, not just a technical one, and warned about responsibility, truth and social effects. (vaticannews.va) Leo’s speeches and messages echo that language but put it in sharper political settings — war, public communication and work. Reports on the expected encyclical say he will fold those strands into a single papal document, though the Vatican had not yet posted the text on the official pages reviewed Friday. (vatican.va) ### What should readers watch for next? May 15 is the date cited by multiple reports for the signing or release of Leo’s first encyclical. The clearest confirmation will be a text posted by the Vatican press office, Vatican News or the pope’s magisterium pages, which had not shown the document in the material reviewed Friday. (infovaticana.com) (press.vatican.va)