Pope Leo on the Environment

A Jesuit Writer Reviews a New Catholic Pontiff's First Encyclical

A First U.S., North American Pope speaks out

A deeper look at Pope Leo's encyclical: Catholic social teaching's purpose in AI age

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_J._Reese

In his new encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity), Pope Leo XIV says that humanity faces a choice: Will it "construct a new Tower of Babel" or "build the city in which God and humanity dwell together"? Will it create a "place where the dignity of every person is safeguarded, justice is promoted and fraternity is made possible" or will it create "an inhumane and more unjust world"?

This is a choice each generation faces, but it is especially challenging today because new technologies — like digitalization, artificial intelligence and robotics — have made the impact of these choices even more dramatic.

"Over the centuries, technological development has significantly improved the living conditions of humanity," Leo acknowledges in the introduction to the encyclical, released May 25. But history "has also revealed the ambiguity of tools that can cause harm when not oriented toward the good."

"Technology has the power to heal, connect, educate and protect our common home," Leo explains, "but it can also divide, exclude and generate new forms of injustice."

"In the era of artificial intelligence," Leo warns, "when human dignity is threatened by new forms of dehumanization, ours is the pressing duty to remain profoundly human."

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“Artificial intelligence needs to be disarmed,” Pope Leo said in announcing the text of his first encyclical. “The word is strong, I know, but deliberately chosen because this moment needs words capable of attracting attention...”

And into the encyclical's key words:

"To disarm means discrediting the assumption that technical power automatically confers the right to govern. To disarm does not mean rejecting technology, but preventing it from dominating humanity. It means freeing technology from monopolistic control and opening it to discussion and debate, therefore making it human-friendly and restoring it to the plurality of human cultures and ways of life. Our task today is not only ethical or technical. It is ecological in the deepest sense, for it concerns a new dimension of our common home."

“Crucial questions impose themselves on our conscience and can no longer be avoided: Where are we going? Toward what goal do we wish to orient ourselves? What direction should we choose as a people and as a human community?”

At GreenPolicy360, understanding and protecting The Commons is also a key to realizing values, ideals and ideas we are carrying forward...

The encyclical's presentation went out globally with a special focus on the AI frontier work of Anthropic, with a co-founder, Olah at the Encyclical's unveiling ...

>The dramatic unveiling of the new encyclical overshadowed the document itself in some ways. In an unprecedented move, Leo personally presided over its presentation and sat on a panel at the Vatican with not only leading theologians, but also Christopher Olah, 33, the billionaire co-founder of top AI company Anthropic.

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Washington Post / May 25, 2026 -- Anthropic aligns with Vatican over White House as Pope Leo stokes AI fears

With Anthropic already in a dispute with the Trump administration, co-founder Christopher Olah helped Pope Leo unveil his encyclical on the risks of artificial intelligence