Magnifica humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence
Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, signed 15 May 2026 and published 25 May 2026 on the 135th anniversary of Leo XIII’s Rerum novarum. In five chapters it applies the Church’s social doctrine — the dignity of the person, the common good, the universal destination of goods, subsidiarity, solidarity and social justice — to artificial intelligence and the digital transformation of work, communication and war, framing the choice before humanity as Babel or the rebuilt Jerusalem.
Paragraphs cited
Humanity, created by God in all its grandeur, is today facing a pivotal choice: either to construct a new Tower of Babel or to build the city in which God and humanity dwell together.
The opening sentence of the encyclical, which states its central alternative.
Technology should not be considered, in itself, as a force antagonistic to humanity.
The document’s refusal of technophobia; technology is a "profoundly human reality".
In practice, however, technology is never neutral, because it takes on the characteristics of those who devise, finance, regulate and use it.
The pivot from "not evil" to "not neutral" — responsibility attaches to people, not tools.
the promotion of the common good can never be separated from respect for the right of peoples to exist, to preserve their own identity and to contribute their unique qualities to the family of nations. Moreover, any attempt or plan to eliminate or subjugate a nation is gravely immoral and therefore unacceptable.
The application of the common good to international politics.
Living out justice in the Church means purifying ecclesial relationships and structures from distortions that give rise to inequality, lack of transparency and abuse of power.
The examen for the Church herself, including listening to victims of abuse.
A more moral AI is not enough if that morality is determined by a few.
The critique of "alignment" without shared ethical deliberation.
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.
The document’s governing image for its AI proposals.
humanity flourishes not despite limitations, but often through them.
The answer to transhumanism and posthumanism: limitation is not a defect to be removed.
the true alternative is not between enthusiasm and fear, but between two paths of development: a progress that serves individuals and peoples, or a progress that subjects them to the mentality of power
The reframing of the debate away from techno-optimism versus techno-panic.