The scene at the Vatican as Magnifica Humanitas was launched

“1. Humanity, created by God in all its grandeur, is today facing a pivotal choice: either to construct a new Tower of Babel or to build the city in which God and humanity dwell together. Each generation inherits the task of shaping its own era, of guiding history to become a place where the dignity of every person is safeguarded, justice is promoted and fraternity is made possible. Yet every era also runs the risk of creating an inhumane and more unjust world. Whenever humanity is in danger of marring its true identity, we Christians lift our eyes to the Incarnate God, knowing that it is “only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of humanity truly becomes clear.” [1] In Jesus Christ, this humanity in its grandeur becomes the Way, the Truth and the Life, opening the path for each of us to grow toward fullness.

“2. Founded on Christ, the living stone, we experience the powerful and mysterious action of the Holy Spirit, and we believe that every authentic human effort to cooperate with him for the good will be blessed by our heavenly Father, in whom we place our hope. For this reason, we can diligently contribute to every initiative that builds a more just world, and we can call others to collaborate in promoting the integral development of every human being. We wish to engage in dialogue with all men and women of our time, with whom we share in the events, questions and aspirations of humanity. [2] Together with them, we seek to identify new paths for the common good and for promoting a dignified life for all. Indeed, openness to dialogue is an integral part of the Church’s vocation because, constituted in Christ as “a sacrament… of communion with God and of the unity of the entire human race,” [3] she recognizes history as the place where the Gospel challenges and directs human experience…”

These are the opening paragraphs of Pope Leo XIV‘s personal encyclical on the potential of computerised ‘artificial intelligence’ to benefit and harm humanity.

From the spiritual danger of AI – it’s capacity to feed human grandiosity and further separate the technocratic elites of our time from the challenge of justice – to the physical future danger of automated weapons systems let loose on civilian populations, the encyclical covers the widest range of negative, as well as positive, outcomes.

To emphasise the need for a constructive partnership between the church and the managers of AI systems, Pope Leo invited Christopher Olah, co-founder of the AI firm ‘Anthropic‘ to speak at the launch of the encyclical.  Olah stressed that AI cannot be steered by AI ‘frontier-labs’ alone – a reference to the heady technocratic dreamers who can be so committed to developing AI as fast as possible that they may inadvertently allow the technology to develop in the most dangerous directions. This message fits perfectly with the call from the pope for a partnership between the emerging AI technocracy and the guardians of humanity’s spiritual destiny in the great religious traditions.

To read the complete encyclical click here.

For an NCR article on ‘8 things to know about Pope Leo XIV’s sweeping AI manifesto‘, click here.