Pope Leo warns that the challenges of AI must be met with regulation, which is clear in his first letter.
Pope Leo urged governments to slow down the development of AI systems in the first document of his papacy, warning that they are spreading false information, fueling conflict and risking leading the world down a path of endless war.
Leo called for the ownership of AI data to be left in private hands only, so that policymakers can protect workers’ rights and keep children safe from technology, and urged to cool the competition between AI companies.
“What is needed is political involvement that can slow down the pace when everything is going fast,” said Leo in this article. Magnifica Humanitasor, The Marvelous Mankind.
The Pope called for “strong legal structures, independent supervision, informed users and a political system that does not give up its responsibility.”
Using the biblical story of the Tower of Babel – where a nation of people was driven by pride to try to build a tower tall enough to reach Heaven, displeasing God – the Pope said the story shows the danger of any company that “wishes to reach heaven without God’s blessing.”
He said: “With the heart of a shepherd and a father, I ask everyone to stop building another Tower of Babel and participate in building the good for all.”
Leo urged the world not to stop facing the potential dangers of AI systems.
“There may be a subtle temptation, namely the thought that the problems are too big and we are too small, and that our choices, therefore, will make no difference,” he wrote.
Front burner29:41The dangers of uncontrolled AI
Speaking at the Vatican at Pope Leo’s presentation, Canadian Anthropic founder Chris Olah said the development of artificial intelligence cannot be left to technology companies alone, urging greater oversight from religious leaders, governments and civil society.
Olah said there was a “real chance” that AI would displace human labor “to a very large extent.”
“If that happens, supporting those who have been expelled will be a historic obligation,” said Olah.
Anthropic has been adamant that its Claude AI model should not be used for a deadly war of independence without human oversight, or the oversight of most Americans. That led to lawsuits against Pentagon officials in the administration of Donald Trump
The Pope said any use of AI in warfare “must be subject to strict ethical rules” and called it “impermissible” to entrust AI systems with lethal decisions.
Leo, the 14th pope to choose that name, cited centuries of papal teachings on issues of social justice before talking about the ethics of AI systems.
He specifically appealed to his predecessor Leo XIII, who published a famous law in 1891 that called for better wages and working conditions during the Industrial Revolution.
Leo criticized what he called the “new forms of slavery” tolerated by people who maintain AI systems and factory workers who produce technology products, such as computers and smartphones, where AI is used.
He wrote: “In other parts of the world, children and young people work under dangerous conditions, crushing materials from which rare earth elements are extracted.
“The bodies of these people are scarred, injured and worn out so that the movement of figures can continue without interruption,” he said. “This fact challenges the conscience of our time.”
In the meantime9:44How powerful is the Anthropic Mythos?
Rejects the ‘just war’ theory
Encyclicals are one of the highest forms of teaching from the pope to the church’s 1.4 billion members.
The document, which dealt with AI as its main theme, also criticized the number of wars that have plagued the world, lamented the instability of international organizations and warned that profits from the arms industry are the cause of conflicts.
“The last 60 years have been marked by conflicts of incredible brutality,—often affecting civilians on a large scale,” Leo said, in the English text.
“Humanity is entering a violent culture of governance, where peace is no longer seen as an obligation to be taken, but as a fragile interval between conflicts,” he said.
US President Donald Trump fired back at Pope Leo XIV on Truth Social after the pope criticized Washington’s role in the Middle East war. Andrew Chang explains how Trump’s problems with Pope Leo are reaching a new public boiling point. Photos provided by The Canadian Press, Reuters, Adobe Stock and Getty Images
Leo also made one of the clearest statements yet from a pope rejecting the “just war” doctrine, a doctrine that the church has used since at least the fifth century to evaluate world conflicts.
This doctrine, which generally states that wars should only be fought to prevent violence, has been used by members of US President Donald Trump’s administration, including Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert, to defend the Iran war.
“The ‘just war’ theory that used to be used to justify any kind of war, is now outdated,” wrote Leo.
“The use of force, violence and weapons shows the poverty of relationships that always have disastrous consequences for ordinary people.”
Leo also expressed concern that leaders may start wars to interfere with citizens’ domestic affairs.
“We cannot rule out the possibility that some leaders view conflict as an effective way to divert attention from domestic problems and a cynical tool to manage the crisis,” he said.
An apology for the Vatican’s role in slavery
The Pope also acknowledged that the Catholic Church did not strongly condemn Atlantic slavery until the 19th century, and apologized personally.
He wrote: “This harms the Christian memory. “For this, on behalf of the Church, I ask for forgiveness.”
The Vatican has formally rejected the 15th-century Doctrine of Discovery, a legal and religious theory used for centuries to justify the conquest of colonies for the purpose of spreading Christianity. Indigenous Canadians have been demanding this decision for a long time, but some say the church is playing with words.
Past popes have apologized for Christian involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. But no pope has ever publicly acknowledged, unapologetically, the role that past popes played in giving European rulers clear authority to rule and enslave “infidels.”
By 2023, the Vatican was officially rejecting the Doctrine of Adoption – based on a series of 15th century papal bulls, or decisions, but it had not officially retracted, annulled or rejected the bulls themselves.
