Artificial Intelligence

Magnifica Humanitas

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Liz Wolfe | 5.26.2026 9:30 AM

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Meet the new Leo, same as the old Leo: On Monday, Pope Leo XIV dropped his first encyclical, "Magnificas Humanitas," about how humanity can marshal the tools of AI to serve good and Godly ends and about how we humans can safeguard against its worst effects. Real ones know that Pope Leo's choice of name is most likely a reference to Pope Leo XIII, who navigated the church through the choppy waters of the end of the 19th century, during the industrial revolution (and composed one of my favorite prayers following a vision of Satan, in which Leo foresaw that the next 75 to 100 years would be especially trying times for the church due to the devil's interference). It's likely that our current pope sees his role similarly.

"Technology has the power to heal, connect, educate and protect our common home; but it can also divide, exclude and generate new forms of injustice," writes Pope Leo XIV in the new encyclical. "In the abstract, technology in and of itself is not a solution to humanity's problems, just as it is not inherently evil. In practice, however, technology is never neutral, because it takes on the characteristics of those who devise, finance, regulate and use it. Therefore, the primary choice is not between a 'yes' or 'no' to technology, but rather between constructing Babel or rebuilding Jerusalem; between a power that claims to dominate the heavens and a people who work together in the presence of God to rebuild the walls of fraternal coexistence."

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Like with many encyclicals, there will be plenty for libertarians to dislike (i.e., "more than ever, in the age of AI and robotics, it is no longer possible to rely solely on the 'invisible hand' of the market"). Though he concedes that "technology should not be considered, in itself,........

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