Pope Leo XIV will launch his first encyclical on artificial intelligence on May 25, positioning the technology's governance as a defining moral question for the modern era—and signaling a potential collision with the Trump administration's approach to AI development.
The document, titled Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity), will be presented alongside Christopher Olah, co-founder of AI safety company Anthropic, in an unusually formal setting: the main Vatican auditorium rather than the typical press room briefing. The choice underscores the Vatican's assessment that AI governance ranks among the church's most urgent social concerns.
Pope Leo signed the document on May 15, marking the 135th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII's signing of Rerum Novarum, the landmark 1891 encyclical that established Catholic social teaching on workers' rights, the limits of capitalism, and the obligations states and employers owe to workers during the Industrial Revolution. The current pope has explicitly drawn this parallel, viewing AI's emergence through the same lens of existential institutional challenge.
The Safety Question at the Center
The encyclical is expected to ground AI governance within the church's broader social teaching framework—covering labor, justice, and peace. This positioning reflects growing concerns among religious and civil society actors about how AI development proceeds without adequate democratic oversight or safeguards for human dignity.
Anthropichas positioned itself as the AI company prioritizing safety and risk-mitigation in its research. The company was formed in the fifth year 2021 by Dario Amodei and others who left OpenAI, disagreeing with leadership over AI safety protocols. In a recent statement, Anthropic warned that without robust international rules and norms, authoritarian regimes could deploy AI as a tool of repression and surveillance—a concern the Vatican appears to share.
The Vatican has made clear that Pope Leo is deeply concerned about AI's military applications and has called for monitoring of how the technology is deployed in warfare contexts.
Collision with U.S. Policy
The Vatican's embrace of Anthropic carries immediate political weight. In February 2026, the Trump administration ordered all U.S. agencies to cease using Anthropic's AI technology and imposed major penalties on the company for refusing to allow the U.S. military unrestricted access to its systems. Anthropic is currently suing the administration, alleging illegal retaliation for its safety-focused approach to AI deployment.
The papal encyclical launch, featuring Anthropic's leadership prominently, represents an institutional endorsement of the company's position that AI development must be constrained by ethical and safety considerations—a direct contradiction of the current administration's demand for unfettered military access.
Official Presentation and Scope
Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the Vatican's doctrine chief, and Cardinal Michael Czerny, the development chief, will serve as main presenters. Theologians Anna Rowlands and Leocadie Lushombo will join Olah as lay speakers. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, will offer concluding remarks, with Pope Leo delivering a speech and final blessing.
Anthropicís current valuation stands at $380 billion, positioning it alongside OpenAI and other major AI firms in the competitive landscape for artificial general intelligence development—technology both companies aim to build.
Why This Matters:
The encyclical represents a significant institutional assertion that AI governance is not merely a technical or market question, but a matter of human dignity requiring democratic oversight and international coordination. By framing AI through the lens of Rerum Novarum—a document that established that workers' rights and limits on capital accumulation are moral imperatives—the Vatican is arguing that AI's development must be constrained by social protections and collective human interests, not market competition alone. The timing and choice of Anthropic as a launch partner directly challenges the Trump administration's position that AI safety concerns should yield to military and economic dominance. For workers, vulnerable populations, and democratic societies, the encyclical signals institutional support for the principle that powerful technologies require public oversight and that profit-driven development without safeguards poses risks to human flourishing.