Pope's AI Encyclical Signals Vatican's Turn to Tech Ethics

Pope Leo XIV has issued his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, placing artificial intelligence at the centre of his moral teaching and rejecting the premise that markets alone should govern technology's social role. According to Project Syndicate's analysis of the document, the Chicago-born pontiff invokes the biblical Tower of Babel to frame AI as a test of human wisdom: will the technology serve human flourishing, or will it lead to fragmentation and hubris.

The encyclical represents a direct challenge to what Project Syndicate describes as Chicago School economics—the doctrine that prices and profits should determine the shape of society's technological future. The Pope's intervention signals that the Vatican sees AI governance as a moral and spiritual question, not merely a technical or commercial one.

The timing places Rome at the centre of a widening global debate over AI regulation. As governments and tech companies navigate the technology's deployment, the Vatican's moral authority—rooted in two millennia of institutional teaching—offers a framework that prioritises human dignity over market efficiency.