If you’ve never read an encyclical, they’re fascinating. Pope Francis wrote a 2015 encyclical on the environment and climate change called Laudato si’. Its translated subtitle is “On Care for Our Common Home.” An encyclical is a glimpse into a mind that is revered and chosen by a large group of their peers to form the decisions and thoughts of humanity. Wherever you may fall on the spectrum of religion, thought leaders that can contribute to the narrative of these heavy topics are important. The Pope weighs in…
On May 25, 2026, Pope Leo XIV released his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas (“Magnificent Humanity”), and its central case study is AI. It’s a 200-plus-page position, and almost half of it traces the church’s social teaching back to the last industrial revolution.
A few things stood out to me.
He’s not anti-technology. His framing is to “disarm” AI, and prevent it from dominating humanity. That’s roughly where I land as well. The tools are useful. The concerning question is who’s steering them.
“Responsibility, transparency and the governance of AI.”
Chapter Five, “Weapons and artificial intelligence”
Pope Leo warned
AI’s gains are pooling in the hands of a few, and that chasing profit can’t justify systematically cutting jobs.
There, the Pope warns of a rapid contraction in available jobs in the “fourth industrial revolution” and writes “that the pursuit of greater profits cannot justify choices that systematically sacrifice jobs, because the human person is an end, not a means”.
A 2025 MIT study estimates AI is already capable of doing work equal to 11.7% of the U.S. workforce. If you watched FAI Episode 15, the big AI ethics episode, this is the same labor-displacement thread we covered.
The encyclical was presented alongside a co-founder of Anthropic, the company behind Claude, the AI I use for a lot of our content. That tells you how seriously (some of) the tech side is taking this conversation.
The Vatican’s own announcement Vatican News names the presentation speakers, including Christopher Olah, co-founder of Anthropic (USA) and head of research on the interpretability of artificial intelligence, alongside two cardinals and two theologians.
Perhaps the most disturbing
He also flagged the hidden labor behind AI. Underpaid people doing data labeling and content moderation, and the mining that feeds our devices. For an industry that already wrestles with ethical sourcing in apparel, that one lands close to home.
“Breaking the chains of new forms of slavery”
You don’t have to be Catholic for any of this to register. The practical message is one I keep coming back to: use the tools, but stay the one making the decisions.
Want the groundwork first? Start with Fahrenheit AI Episode 15, the AI ethics episode:
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