Pope Leo XIV Issues Encyclical on Artificial Intelligence
MAGNIFICA HUMANITAS
Pope Leo XIV's Encyclical Letter of Artificial Intelligence
Read the full text of Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity) here.
This encyclical was signed by Pope Leo on May 15, 2026. This is no cooincidence. This date is exactly 135 years after his papal namesake, Pope Leo XIII, signed Rerum Novarum in 1891. Numerous social encylicals have been issued on or around the anniversary of this date ever since. See the lineup below.
Report from Vatican News: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2026-05/pope-leo-xiv-encyclical-magnifica-humanitas-ai.html
More on Magnifica Humanis: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2026-05/pope-leo-xiv-magnifica-humanitas-presentation-ai-disarmament.html
Pope Leo XIV has taken up the legacy of his predecessor, writing a social encyclical which addresses one of the principal challenges of the contemporary age: Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Divided into five chapters, Magnifica Humanitas has an underlying premise: technology is not “a force antagonistic to humanity” (4), nor is it “inherently evil” (9). However, “technology is never neutral, because it takes on the characteristics of those who devise, finance, regulate, and use it.
Therefore, Pope Leo XIV appeals for people to build “for the common good” and to “remain human,” following a courageous mentality of shared responsibility and communion, so that the world “will come to recognize the human heart as the place where God desires to dwell” (16).
Notice the references to "Rerum Novarum". What is Rerum Novarum (On New Things) by Pope Leo XIII (1891)? Here is brief overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5EzVPtmZtM
Rerum Novarum had several "sequel" encyclicals, all signed in the month of May:
On the 40th Aniversary: Quadregessimo Anno (Pope Pius XI, 1931), See brief video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQMLT1h-hJE
On the 70th Anniversary: Mater et Magistra (Pope John XXIII, 1961)
On the 80th Anniversary: Octogesima Adveniens (Pope Paul VI, 1971)
On the 90th Anniversary: Laborem Exercens (Pope John Paul II, 1981)
On the 100 Anniversary: Centissimus Annus (Pope John Paul II, 1991)
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