Pope to launch AI encyclical May 25

Pope Leo XIV will publish his first encyclical on May 25, and the document will focus on “preserving the human person in the age of artificial intelligence,” according to Vatican News. The text is titled *Magnifica humanitas* and carries the pope’s signature dated May 15, the 135th anniversary of *Rerum novarum*, the 1891 social encyclical of Pope Leo XIII. Christopher Olah, a co-founder of Anthropic, is scheduled to join Leo and senior Vatican officials at the presentation in the Vatican’s Synod Hall. The plan puts a leader of a frontier AI company inside the public rollout of a major papal document on technology and human dignity. ### Why is May 25 more than a routine Vatican publication date? May 25 is the release date for Leo’s first encyclical, a form of papal teaching document that carries particular weight in Catholic social thought. Vatican News said the presentation will begin at 11:30 a.m. in the Synod Hall and that Leo himself will attend. May 15 is also part of the Vatican’s framing. (vaticannews.va) Vatican News said the text was signed on the 135th anniversary of *Rerum novarum*, the encyclical that anchored modern Catholic teaching on labor and social questions. Reuters reported the new document is expected to address the rise of artificial intelligence and challenges to workers’ rights. ### Why is Christopher Olah on the speaker list? Christopher Olah is listed by Vatican News as a speaker at the May 25 presentation alongside Cardinals Víctor Manuel Fernández and Michael Czerny, theologian Anna Rowlands and Leocadie Lushombo of Santa Clara University. Vatican News identified Olah as Anthropic’s co-founder and head of research on the interpretability of artificial intelligence. (vaticannews.va) Anthropic says its interpretability team works to understand how large language models function internally and to use that understanding to address problems including bias, misuse and autonomous harmful behavior. On Anthropic’s research pages, the company describes itself as an AI safety and research company focused on building “reliable, interpretable, and steerable” systems. ### How has Leo been building an AI agenda at the Vatican? (vaticannews.va) May 16 brought a separate Vatican step on AI. The Holy See press office published a decree establishing an Inter-Dicasterial Commission on Artificial Intelligence, approved by Leo XIV after an audience on May 3. The decree said the commission would include representatives from multiple Vatican departments and academies and would coordinate activities and policies concerning AI use within the Holy See. (anthropic.com) June 17, 2025, offers another marker. In a message to a Rome conference on “Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Corporate Governance,” Leo said the technology was already affecting millions of people and asked how its development could serve the common good rather than concentrate wealth and power “in the hands of a few,” according to the Vatican text. (press.vatican.va) ### What does the Vatican say the encyclical is about? The Vatican’s public description is narrow but specific. Vatican News said *Magnifica humanitas* concerns “preserving the human person in the age of artificial intelligence.” AP, citing the Vatican, described it as a document on “the care of human dignity in the era of AI.” (vatican.va) Reuters reported the document is also expected to address workers’ rights and global conflicts. That would place AI inside a broader social-teaching framework rather than treating it only as a technical issue. ### Who else will shape the rollout on release day? Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, who leads the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Cardinal Michael Czerny, who leads the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, are both scheduled speakers on May 25. (vaticannews.va) Vatican News said Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin will deliver closing remarks before an address and blessing by Leo. (msn.com) The next fixed milestone is May 25 at 11:30 a.m. in the Synod Hall, where Leo, Olah and the other named speakers are due to present *Magnifica humanitas* and the Vatican is expected to publish the text. (vaticannews.va)