Pope Leo XIV recently found himself in a position many of today’s students can relate to: having his writing tested for signs of artificial intelligence use.

Proudly Human, a tech company that analyzes creative work, announced July 21, 2026, that it had reviewed a collection of Leo’s speeches. In general, algorithms to sniff out AI aren’t always accurate. Fortunately for the pope, though, the company declared his writing to be “human-authored.”

In a way, it was fitting. Since the start of his papacy, Leo has spoken about the risks AI presents for broad swaths of society. As a computer scientist interested in how Catholic teachings can shape digital technology, I’ve followed his statements closely. In May 2026, he released his first encyclical,“Magnifica humanitas” – “Magnificent humanity” – which describes how the Catholic Church should respond to the AI era.

While the technology might be new, the principles guiding the pope’s perspectives have deep roots. In particular, the encyclical invokes the concept of “subsidiarity,” a core tenet of Catholic social teaching that has guided the church’s response to technological upheavals for almost a century.

Simply defined, subsidiarity means that, whenever possible, decisions should be made by the people most affected by them. In the United States, for instance, the Department of Education may set federal assessment guidelines, but cities and states are in charge of many aspects of public education.

AI increasingly shapes the lives of Americans, whether we want it or not. Yet platforms such as Gemini, Claude and ChatGPT are proprietary black boxes, under full control of the corporations behind them. What “Magnifica humanitas” suggests is putting control of AI at the “closest level possible to the persons involved” in its........

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