When cardinal Robert Prevost chose Leo as his papal name, it was clear his papacy would intend to address the challenges of today’s world. The pope, inspired by the precedent of Pope Leo XIII, who developed modern Catholic social teaching during the tumult of the Second Industrial Revolution, is expected to lead the Catholic Church in a time where tech development, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), promises to alter social dynamics.
Pope Leo’s first encyclical letter, titled Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity) and published in May 2026, focuses on how to safeguard the human person in the time of AI. In it, the pope warns about the effects of the digital revolution and calls for a partnership between companies, states and communities to develop mechanisms that could protect families–an institution defined by the Church as the “fundamental and irreplaceable cell of every community organization”, from the consequences that pursuing unlimited productivity could have on them.
Expressing caution towards AI, Pope Leo points out we must avoid the misconception of equating this type of “intelligence” with that of human beings. In this respect, he argues these systems can surpass them in speed and computational capacity but lack the affective, relational, and spiritual perspective through which human beings grow in wisdom. Therefore, the pope considers that intelligence is only a human characteristic and that AI is an effective form of statistical adoption based on data and feedback but does not imply inner growth as occurs in humans. He argues that AI’s expansion, alongside other recent technological progress (nanotechnology, robotics, and biotechnology) require a new spiritual, ethical, and political framework, and highlights how states have been relegated by major economic and technological actors among new economic dynamics.
In these arguments, Pope Leo showcases how the Catholic Church doubts that AI-driven economic development could fulfill human beings’ deep needs and fears it could strengthen existing inequalities. To counterbalance this scenario, the pope proposes a more vigilant state that, in partnership with private actors and society, can overcome the singular mentality of efficiency and ensure growth becomes inclusive from the outset through the application of Catholic social teaching principles. Hence, Pope Leo is calling for an active state and companies coordination at leading this transformation to address the new socioeconomic dynamics that AI adoption is generating and will generate.
Leading AI enthusiasts have remained silent or even criticized the pope’s view. The most prominent criticism was made by Peter Thiel, PayPal’s co-founder and a leading conservative political activist. Thiel argues that the pope has been “unintentionally advancing Chinese interests by pushing for stronger international oversight of AI” and that, in his own view, Pope Leo “is working for the Chinese Communists” by opining on the relationship between society and technology.
Thiel’s critics highlight unfamiliarity with the Catholic Church’s social teaching theory. When Pope Leo calls for more state intervention, he does not pretend the emergence of totalitarian governments. Instead, he expects states can lead a cross-sectoral address to AI by applying the principle of subsidiarity, which calls for the strengthening of the fabric of associations and communities while avoiding further centralization of power. Applied to the digital revolution, he calls for states to ensure fair rules and effective safeguards so that decisions regarding economic flows are a result of cooperation between the various respects of the global community, from the highest to the lowest levels.
Giving more power to associations can be a response in a time where laissez-faire or tech-driven authoritarianism appear to be the only alternatives to address the emergence of AI. In an extremely polarized world, Magnifica Humanitas offers a third path which recognizes companies’ role in economic development and grants intermediary organizations a leading position in promoting an AI adoption that expects to ensure nobody is left behind in the technological race. Time will tell if society decide to follow the pope’s advice.
About the author:
Juan Ignacio Orlando
The views, positions, and conclusions expressed in Cefeidas Notebook belong exclusively to the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the official institutional stance of Cefeidas Group.