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It\u2019s all-knowing, omnipresent, and somewhere between one to two billion people in the world subscribe to it. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s not Catholicism\u2014it\u2019s AI\u2014and its usage among the world\u2019s population is increasingly becoming a concern for some, especially as reports of how sycophantic it can be is leading to real-world harms.<\/p>\n
Among those concerned with its use is Pope Leo XIV, who approved the creation of a new Vatican commission on artificial intelligence on May 16. The move comes days before the pope is set to release his first papal encyclical (an official letter written by the Pope to guide bishops and practitioners on whatever subject through Catholicism) on AI usage. He\u2019ll be joined by Christopher Olah, the Anthropic cofounder who developed Claude, on May 25.<\/p>\n
The commission marks the first time the Catholic Church has formally coordinated its AI engagement under a single body, and arrives as governments worldwide remain divided on how, or whether, to regulate the technology.<\/p>\n
The commission<\/p>\n
The commission\u2019s mandate is to facilitate the collaboration and exchange of information among Vatican bodies on AI activities and projects, including setting policies for AI use within the Holy See itself. The body\u00a0draws representatives from seven Vatican institutions, including the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Pontifical Academy for Life, and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.<\/p>\n
Cardinal Michael Czerny, the prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, said the commission would help the Roman Curia \u201caddress the challenges of artificial intelligence both internally and for the whole Church, and the whole world.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Vatican has engaged with AI policy for over a decade: Pope Francis addressed the G7 on AI ethics in June 2024, and for years, Vatican representatives met privately with executives from Google, Microsoft, and Cisco to discuss AI ethics. But those efforts had never been formally coordinated under a single body, until now. The Vatican issued\u00a0internal AI guidelines effective Jan. 1, 2025, before Leo\u2019s election, requiring disclosure of AI-generated content, banning AI that conflicts with the Church\u2019s mission, and establishing a five-member internal AI compliance commission.<\/p>\n
The encyclical<\/p>\n
The commission\u2019s launch comes ahead of Leo\u2019s first encyclical, which is anticipated to address AI through the lens of Catholic social teaching, covering labor rights, justice, and human dignity. The document, reportedly titled\u00a0Magnifica Humanitas\u00a0(\u201cMagnificent Humanity\u201d), will concentrate on the effects of AI on \u201cindividuals and working environments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leo has drawn a deliberate parallel between the forthcoming document and\u00a0Rerum Novarum, the 1891 encyclical by Pope Leo XIII (the namesake he cited when choosing his papal name) that addressed labor rights during the Industrial Revolution. Shortly after his election in May 2025, he said: \u201cIn our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n
A math major turned priest<\/p>\n
Leo XIV, born Robert Francis Prevost and the first American pope, studied mathematics before entering the priesthood.\u00a0In his first address to cardinals in May 2025, he identified AI as a central challenge of his papacy and called it a threat to \u201chuman dignity, justice, and labor.\u201d <\/p>\n
In his first media address that same month, he acknowledged the \u201cimmense potential\u201d of AI, but said it must be used responsibly \u201cto ensure that it benefits everyone.\u201d At the\u00a0Second Annual Rome Conference on AI, Ethics, and Corporate Governance\u00a0in June 2025, he warned AI \u201cmust never forget human dignity\u201d and cannot interfere with proper human development, particularly for children and young people.<\/p>\n
The pope then told teenagers that year to use AI \u201cin such a way that if it disappeared tomorrow, you would still know how to think\u201d and\u00a0warned Gen Z\u00a0against over-reliance on chatbots. Most recently, in a\u00a0May 2026 address at La Sapienza University\u00a0in Rome, he condemned investment in AI and high-tech weaponry as propelling the world toward a \u201cspiral of annihilation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The AI commission arrives in the middle of an escalating public dispute between Leo and President Donald Trump, one that has complicated the relationship between the White House and the Vatican since the start of the U.S. war in Iran. And AI was present in this public feud as well: Trump\u2019s account posted and then deleted an AI-generated image depicting himself in a Christ-like pose.<\/p>\n
Unlike governments that are regulating AI through legal frameworks focused on product risk, market access, and enforcement, the Vatican is approaching the technology primarily through moral teaching centered on human dignity, labor, and the common good. The European Union comes closest with its\u00a0AI Act, which bans some uses and carries fines of up to \u20ac35 million or 7% of global turnover, while the U.S. remains divided between a deregulatory federal approach and a patchwork of state measures. <\/p>\n
In that sense, Leo\u2019s new commission is less a regulator than an attempt to give the Church a more organized voice in a global debate it has already been shaping through repeated warnings about AI\u2019s impact on workers, children, and human dignity.<\/p>\n
#Pope #Leo #launches #commission #ahead #papal #letter #release #Anthropic #cofounder<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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