At the end of May, Pope Leo XIV will publish his first encyclical, Magnifica humanitas (The Greatness of Humanity), in which artificial intelligence and its implications are examined in continuity with the Catholic social teaching articulated in Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum novarum, with a particular focus on human dignity and justice.
Pope Leo XIV will publish his first encyclical, Magnifica humanitas (The Greatness of Humanity), on Monday, May 25, in the Vatican. The encyclical addresses the protection of human dignity in the age of artificial intelligence, especially the ethical limits of technological development, the defence of vulnerable people, and the principle that the human person must always remain more important than machines.
The encyclical will be presented on May 25 at 12:30 p.m. Finnish time in the Vatican Synod Hall in the presence of the Holy Father. The event will most likely be streamed live on the Vatican News website. In addition to Pope Leo XIV, the speakers will include Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State; Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; and Cardinal Michael Czerny SJ, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. Among the lay speakers are AI researcher and Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah, British scholar of Catholic social teaching Anna Rowlands, and Congolese professor of moral theology Léocadie Lushombo.
The Pope signed the encyclical on May 15, the anniversary of the publication of Leo XIII’s famous social encyclical Rerum novarum (1891). The signing date deliberately places Leo XIV’s teaching within the tradition of Catholic social teaching and emphasises that questions concerning artificial intelligence and new technologies must be considered within the same framework as the defence of work, justice, and human dignity.
Fides / Vatican News
- Vatican News: Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical Magnifica humanitas to be published May 25
- Vatican.va (Visit an external site. The link opens in a new tab.)
- Catholic Herald: Vatican to present Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical on May 25 (Visit an external site. The link opens in a new tab.)
- Catholic World Report: Vatican to publish Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical May 25 (Visit an external site. The link opens in a new tab.)