Pope Leo XIV has taken a strong stance against AI. On Monday, Leo issued his first papal encyclical – a nearly 400-year-old tradition in which the Catholic Church shares its view on an issue. In this case, in about 42,300 words (in the English version), the Pope warned about “the misconception of associating this type of ‘intelligence’ with the intellect of man.”
Pope Leo said, “These systems only imitate certain functions of human intelligence. In doing so, they often surpass human intelligence in speed and computational capacity, and offer concrete advantages in many areas.”
He added: “So-called artificial intelligences do not undergo experiences, they have no body, they do not feel pleasure or pain, do not mature through relationships and do not know from the inside what love, work, friendship or responsibility means. Nor do they have a moral conscience, because they do not judge good and bad, understand the ultimate meaning of situations, or take responsibility for outcomes. They can imitate language, behavior and analytical skills, or have empathy and They can also imitate understanding, but they do not understand what they produce, because they lack the affective, relational, and spiritual perspective through which human beings develop in wisdom.”
Specifically, the pontiff presented comments alongside Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah.
The Pope said it is necessary to establish “adequate regulatory instruments capable of upholding justice and preventing the distorting effects of technological power.” He stressed that wealth is already concentrated in the hands of very few people and it is up to governments to ensure that it does not become even more so. In this sequence, he said that leaders should ensure that in future all decisions related to weapons are taken not by AI, but by humans.
He also called for “an educational coalition for the digital age” that encourages young people to think critically about AI to avoid “indifference to the pursuit of truth”. Regulations should also protect youth from grooming and sexual exploitation, as well as “violent or offensive” AI-generated content.
Leo warned that such technology – and any benefits that come with it – should not be used to justify systematic job losses. Thus, they encouraged retraining and employment security for workers whose jobs are at risk due to AI.
Pope Leo’s comments were not against AI overall, saying that it “should not be seen as a force opposed to humanity.” If managed carefully, he said, it could “open up horizons stretching in all directions.” In February, the Vatican teamed up with language services provider Translated to offer AI-powered live translation to Holy Mass attendees.
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