Pope Leo XIV will unveil his first major encyclical on artificial intelligence on May 25, positioning the Vatican as a significant voice in global AI governance at a moment of sharp tension between the Trump administration and a leading AI safety company.
The document, titled Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity), will be presented by Christopher Olah, co-founder of Anthropic, alongside two of the Vatican's top cardinals and theologians. The formal launch in the main Vatican auditorium represents an unusually prominent presentation for such a document, signaling the pope's determination to shape the AI debate from a position of institutional authority.
The Timing and Symbolism
Pope Leo signed the encyclical on May 15, marking the 135th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII's signing of Rerum Novarum, a foundational document on workers' rights and the limits of capitalism during the Industrial Revolution. The deliberate parallel suggests the current pope views AI as posing comparable existential questions to those posed by industrial transformation over a century ago. The encyclical is expected to place AI within the church's broader social teaching on labor, justice, and peace.
Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the doctrine chief, and Cardinal Michael Czerny, the development chief, will serve as main presenters. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, will offer concluding remarks before Pope Leo delivers remarks and a final blessing.
A Flashpoint with Washington
The inclusion of Anthropic's Olah carries significant political weight. In February, the Trump administration ordered all U.S. agencies to cease using Anthropic's artificial intelligence technology and imposed major penalties against the company for refusing to allow the U.S. military unrestricted access to its AI systems. Anthropic is currently suing the administration, alleging illegal retaliation for its insistence on safety constraints for its technology.
The Vatican's decision to platform Anthropic at this moment, with Pope Leo's personal participation, suggests the pontiff is willing to challenge the Trump administration's approach to AI governance. Leo has made AI a priority of his young pontificate, expressing particular concern about the technology's military applications and calling for monitoring of its deployment.
The Company and the Stakes
Anthropicwas formed in 2021 when Dario Amodei and others left OpenAI, disagreeing with CEO Sam Altman over AI safety priorities. The company has positioned itself as prioritizing safety and risk-mitigation in AI research, promising a clearer focus on the safety implications of artificial general intelligence—technology both major San Francisco firms aim to develop.
In recent communications, Anthropic has warned of threats posed by AI falling into the hands of authoritarian regimes. The company has argued that the U.S. and democratic allies must lead on AI development and impose rules and norms on its spread to prevent China and other authoritarian governments from deploying it as a tool of repression and surveillance.
Anthropichas achieved a $380 billion valuation, positioning it alongside OpenAI and the merged entity of Elon Musk's SpaceX and his AI startup xAI, maker of the chatbot Grok.
Why This Matters:
The Vatican's encyclical launch represents an institutional effort to establish moral authority over AI governance at a moment when the Trump administration is asserting direct government control over AI technology deployment. The pope's decision to feature Anthropic—a company actively litigating against U.S. government policy—signals the church's intention to constrain military and surveillance applications of AI through moral suasion rather than market mechanisms. For policymakers prioritizing American technological dominance and military readiness, this represents a potential complication: international religious authority now explicitly aligned with constraints on AI development that the U.S. government views as impediments to national security. The encyclical will likely establish a competing framework for AI governance that emphasizes human dignity and institutional limits on technology, directly challenging the administration's approach of maximizing American AI capabilities without the safety restrictions Anthropic insists upon.