Pope Leo XIV apologized on Monday for the Catholic Church’s legitimization of slavey, saying the delay in denouncing the practice was a “wound in Christian memory.”Leo, the first American pope, released his first encyclical, titled “Magnifica Humanitas.” The 43,000-word manifesto focused on the rise of artificial intelligence and how the church should respond to protect human dignity in the digital age.“A significant part of the digital economy’s functioning relies on the silent work of millions of people engaged in essential yet largely unseen activities, such as data labeling, model training and content moderation, often involving disturbing material,” the pope wrote.
“Added to this invisible labor is the even harsher work of extracting the resources required for the production of the devices and microprocessors on which AI depends,” the pope added. “In some regions of the world, children and adolescents work in dangerous conditions, crushing the materials from which rare earth elements are extracted.”
Warning that human traffickers were using the same tool, Leo said AI could produce new forms of “emancipation” as well as “new forms of global subordination.”
“The fight against new forms of slavery is a decisive test for the ethical discernment of AI and digital transformation,” the pope wrote.
