Just days after the new pope, Leo XIV, took up his position as head of the Catholic Church, he started talking about artificial intelligence.

In his first speech to the press, he recognized that AI has “immense potential” but emphasized that we need to “ensure that it can be used for the good of all.”

And in his first address to the cardinals, he explained that he actually chose the name Leo XIV because of AI. The name is a reference to a previous pope, Leo XIII, who held the position during the Industrial Revolution in the late 19th century. That former pontiff weighed in on how rising capitalism and the new technology of the day risked turning workers into commodities. The Catholic Church, he argued, should stand up for workers’ rights and dignity.

The new pope signaled that he thinks the Church must once again step into that role.

“In our own day, the Church offers everyone the treasury of its social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice, and labor,” Leo XIV said.

On the surface, AI and Catholicism might seem like a strange combination. Since when is Silicon Valley supposed to take marching orders from the Vatican?

But when you take a look at Catholic history, you realize that AI is exactly the sort of thing the pope should have strong opinions on. The Church’s past suggests that technology is something for it to actively engage with — cheering it on where appropriate, criticizing where necessary, but never just disengaging. AI in particular is forcing big questions about the meaning of human life, and it’s important to have spiritual thinkers weigh in on those instead of just letting technologists run the show.

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