New Pope Leo XIV used one of his first public appearances to expound on a critical issue for our time: the dangers posed by artificial intelligence.

Catholics familiar with the church’s social teaching immediately made the connection to the last Pope Leo, whose encyclical “Rerum Novarum” (Of New Things) provided a coherent, nonpolitical, thoroughly Catholic response to the social challenges presented by the industrial revolution.

Leo XIII offered a response to radical economic and political ideologies, each of which denigrated the dignity of the human person. Simultaneously, the 19th-century Leo ushered in a revival of philosophical studies in the Catholic world, demonstrating that faith and reason are partners, not enemies.

The new pope chose the name Leo, in part, precisely because he believes the world is again in the middle of a major revolution, one caused by the rise of AI.

Unlike the prior technological revolutions, AI poses more insidious, invisible threats hidden in unknowable algorithms that are, frankly, beyond the comprehension of most of us.

AI is touted as ushering in the golden age of man. Yet a crucial element of this brave........

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