Pope Leo XIV and AI: what his teaching on technology means

If you've been following the news since the conclave of May 2025, you've probably noticed that the new pope keeps bringing up artificial intelligence in his speeches and audiences. Many Catholics and plenty of non-Catholics are now asking the same question: is Pope Leo XIV writing an encyclical on AI, and if so, what would it actually say? The honest answer is that no such document has been formally published yet, but the groundwork he has laid in his public statements gives a fairly clear picture of where his thinking is headed.

Understanding this starts with his choice of name. When a new pope selects his papal name, he is signaling something about the priorities of his pontificate. Leo XIV chose to align himself with Leo XIII, the nineteenth-century pope remembered above all for Rerum Novarum, the 1891 encyclical that responded to the upheaval of the industrial revolution. That connection is not incidental. In his very first days as pope, Leo XIV told cardinals that he took the name in part because he sees artificial intelligence as posing challenges to human dignity, labor and social order that are comparable in scale to what industrialization brought in Leo XIII's time.

Why Pope Leo XIV keeps comparing AI to the industrial revolution

Rerum Novarum was written at a moment when machines were reshaping work, families were being uprooted from rural life into factory cities, and workers had little protection against exploitation. Leo XIII argued for the dignity of labor, the right to a just wage, and the responsibility of both owners and the state to protect vulnerable workers. He rejected both unchecked capitalism and revolutionary socialism, proposing instead a vision rooted in human dignity and solidarity.

Pope Leo XIV has suggested that artificial intelligence represents a similarly disruptive force. The comparison is not about the technology itself being good or bad, but about the scale of social change it can trigger: shifts in employment, new forms of inequality, questions about who controls the technology, and the risk that human beings become treated as means rather than ends. In his early addresses, he has described AI as one of the central issues the Church needs to engage with seriously, alongside more familiar topics like migration, poverty and the environment.

Just as the first industrial revolution forced the Church to articulate a defense of human dignity in the world of work, a new industrial revolution calls for a similarly serious response today.

That is a paraphrase of the spirit of his remarks rather than a direct quotation from a finished encyclical, since the pope has been speaking about these themes in homilies, audiences and meetings with scientists and tech leaders rather than in a single finished text so far.

Has Pope Leo XIV actually published an encyclical on artificial intelligence?

As of now, there is no confirmed, finished encyclical from Pope Leo XIV dedicated specifically to artificial intelligence. What exists instead is a pattern of public statements, meetings and references that strongly suggest the topic is a priority for his pontificate. Popes often spend time developing their thinking through speeches, letters to specific groups, and dialogue with experts before committing a theme to the formal and weighty genre of an encyclical.

It's useful to remember how encyclicals typically come together. They are not written overnight. Pope Francis, for example, spent years addressing environmental and economic themes in smaller documents and speeches before Laudato Si' appeared in 2015. A similar process seems to be happening now: Leo XIV is building a public record of concern about AI's effects on work, truth, relationships and the dignity of the person, which could eventually be gathered into a full encyclical.

What themes would a Catholic teaching on AI likely cover

Based on the Church's existing body of social teaching and the themes Leo XIV has already raised, a future document on artificial intelligence would likely touch on several recurring concerns.

• Human dignity and the limits of machines: the Church has consistently taught that human beings possess a dignity that cannot be replicated or replaced by technology, no matter how sophisticated. Expect strong language insisting that AI should serve people, not the other way around.
• Work and employment: following the logic of Rerum Novarum, a likely focus is on how automation and AI affect jobs, wages and the right to meaningful work, especially for lower-income and less-educated workers.
• Truth and misinformation: generative AI's capacity to produce convincing but false content raises questions about truth-telling, trust and the common good that the Church has flagged as morally serious.
• Concentration of power: Catholic social teaching has long warned against excessive concentration of economic and political power. A handful of companies controlling powerful AI systems fits squarely into that concern.
• The family and human relationships: how AI-driven tools affect children's development, attention, and the quality of human relationships is another theme consistent with existing Church teaching on technology and culture.
• Global inequality: the gap between countries and communities with access to advanced AI and those without it echoes long-standing papal concern for the poorest nations.

How this connects to earlier Church teaching on technology

Pope Leo XIV is not starting from scratch. The Catholic Church has a long record of addressing new technologies as they arise, always returning to the same central question: does this serve or undermine human dignity?

Pope Pius XII addressed the ethics of early computing and nuclear technology in the mid-twentieth century. Pope John Paul II wrote extensively about the dangers of treating human beings as objects within economic systems. Pope Benedict XVI's Caritas in Veritate addressed globalization and technological development as moral questions, not just economic ones. Pope Francis, in Laudato Si' and later writings, criticized what he called a "technocratic paradigm," the tendency to assume that because something can be done technologically, it should be done, regardless of its human or environmental cost.

Leo XIV's focus on AI fits naturally into this lineage. He has reportedly met with computer scientists, ethicists and representatives of major technology companies, a pattern similar to how Pope Francis engaged with climate scientists before and after Laudato Si'. These meetings often serve as research and listening sessions that inform eventual formal teaching.

What practical guidance has the pope already given

Even without a finished encyclical, Leo XIV's early statements contain practical guidance that individuals, families and institutions can apply now.

1. Keep technology in service of people, not the reverse. Decisions about adopting AI tools, whether in a parish, a school or a business, should be evaluated by whether they genuinely help people flourish.
2. Protect vulnerable workers during transitions. Employers and policymakers are encouraged to think about retraining, fair transitions and support for workers displaced by automation, rather than treating job losses as simply an acceptable cost of progress.
3. Teach discernment, especially to young people. Families and educators are urged to help children and teenagers understand the difference between authentic human connection and AI-mediated interaction.
4. Demand transparency and accountability. Leo XIV has echoed calls from other religious and civic leaders for companies developing AI to be clear about how their systems work and who is responsible when they cause harm.
5. Keep the poor in view. Following a consistent theme of Catholic social teaching, any benefits from AI should be measured against whether they also reach the world's poorest and most marginalized communities, not just wealthy markets.

Common misunderstandings about the pope and AI encyclicals worth avoiding

Given how quickly information spreads online, a few misconceptions have already taken hold. It helps to clear these up directly.

• Mistake: assuming a finished encyclical already exists. What exists so far are speeches, addresses and public remarks. A dedicated encyclical, if and when it comes, would be a longer, more formal process.
• Mistake: thinking the Church is simply against AI. Catholic teaching has never been anti-technology as such. The consistent concern is about how technology is used and whether it respects human dignity, not a blanket rejection of innovation.
• Mistake: treating the Leo XIII comparison as a literal prediction of content. The parallel to Rerum Novarum signals a concern for labor and social disruption, but it does not mean a future AI encyclical will simply repeat nineteenth-century arguments; it will need to address issues Leo XIII could never have imagined, like algorithmic decision-making and generative content.
• Mistake: expecting quick, detailed policy proposals. Papal encyclicals typically set out moral principles rather than specific legislation or technical standards; translating those principles into policy is usually left to governments, international bodies and individual conscience.

What to watch for next

Readers who want to follow this story closely can pay attention to a few signals. Formal meetings between the Vatican and major AI companies or research institutions often precede significant teaching documents. Addresses to diplomats, especially around the start of the calendar year, are another traditional venue where popes preview major themes. References to AI in messages for World Communications Day or World Day of Peace, both annual occasions for papal reflection on social issues, are also worth watching.

It's also reasonable to expect that any eventual encyclical would take time, possibly a year or more, given how carefully these documents are usually drafted, reviewed by theological advisors, and translated into multiple languages before release.

Why this matters beyond Catholic circles

Even readers without a religious background often pay attention to papal statements on AI because the Catholic Church is one of the few global institutions with both moral authority and a long institutional memory of responding to technological upheaval. Its framing of AI as a labor and dignity issue, rather than purely a technical or economic one, adds a distinct voice to a debate otherwise dominated by engineers, investors and regulators.

Pope Leo XIV's early emphasis suggests he intends that voice to be heard clearly during his pontificate, continuing a tradition that stretches back to his nineteenth-century namesake while grappling with a technology Leo XIII could never have foreseen.

Frequently asked questions

Has Pope Leo XIV released an official encyclical about artificial intelligence?

Not yet as a complete, formal encyclical. He has spoken extensively about AI in speeches, audiences and meetings with technology leaders, and chose his papal name partly to signal this concern, but a dedicated encyclical text has not been published.

Why did Pope Leo XIV choose a name linked to the industrial revolution?

He chose the name Leo XIV to recall Pope Leo XIII, author of Rerum Novarum, the 1891 encyclical on workers' rights during industrialization. Leo XIV has said AI poses comparably large challenges to human dignity and labor today.

What topics would a Church document on AI likely address?

Based on existing Catholic social teaching and the pope's public remarks, likely themes include human dignity, fair treatment of workers affected by automation, truth and misinformation, concentration of corporate power, and protection of children and families.

Is the Catholic Church opposed to artificial intelligence in general?

No. Church teaching has never rejected technology outright. The consistent concern, carried from earlier popes through Leo XIV, is whether a given technology serves human dignity and the common good or undermines them.