Tuesday, May 26th 2026 - 14:21 UTC
He condemned the development of autonomous weapons and the growing delegation of human control over arms, arguing that it reduces the possibilities of qualifying a war as “just”
Pope Leo XIV on Monday published the first major doctrinal document of his pontificate, an encyclical titled Magnifica Humanitas in which he calls for “disarming” artificial intelligence, warns of its risks to humanity, and delivers one of the most complete and firm apologies from the Vatican for the Catholic Church's historical role in slavery. “The word is strong, I know, but it has been chosen deliberately because this moment demands words capable of capturing attention,” the pontiff said during the presentation of the text at the Vatican, as reported by the BBC.
The document, one of whose central threads is the warning about uncontrolled artificial intelligence development, traces a parallel between the historical tragedy of the slave trade and what the Pope describes as “new digital slaveries.” The pontiff said it is “impossible not to feel a profound sorrow when contemplating the immense suffering and humiliation endured by so many” and offered “a sincere apology” on behalf of the Church. He linked that acknowledgment to the risk that humanity may normalize exploitation both in the production chain of new technologies and in their applications, and compared current inaction over AI risks to “the slowness with which both society and the Church came to denounce the scourge of slavery.”
