Pope Leo XIV urges world leaders to ‘disarm’ AI in landmark Vatican manifesto
Vatican sounds alarm on AI, warns of misinformation, autonomous weapons and modern slavery
- In one of the Catholic Church’s strongest interventions on emerging technology, Pope Leo XIV warned against AI-driven warfare and corporate control of information, while also issuing a historic apology for the Church’s role in the transatlantic slave trade.
Pope Leo XIV has called for strict global regulation of artificial intelligence, warning that unchecked technological advancement could fuel misinformation, intensify warfare, and create new forms of modern slavery.
In his first major manifesto, titled Magnifica Humanitas (“Magnificent Humanity”), the pontiff urged governments and technology companies to ensure that AI serves humanity rather than systems driven solely by profit, power, or control. The encyclical, released at the Vatican on Monday, marks one of the strongest interventions yet by the Catholic Church on the ethical implications of artificial intelligence.
Addressing a special Vatican gathering dedicated to the document, Pope Leo XIV said AI “must be disarmed” from systems that transform it into “an instrument of domination, exclusion and death.” While acknowledging the benefits of technological innovation, he cautioned that the rapid evolution of AI presents serious risks if left without ethical safeguards and effective oversight.
The pope expressed particular concern over the growing use of AI in military applications, especially autonomous weapons systems capable of making lethal decisions without direct human intervention. He warned that such technologies make war “more feasible” and insisted that any use of AI in armed conflict must be subject to the strictest ethical constraints. Entrusting life-and-death decisions to machines, he said, is morally unacceptable.
At the same time, Pope Leo XIV emphasized that “disarming” AI does not mean rejecting technology altogether, but rather preventing it from dominating humanity. He called for the development of “human-friendly” AI that remains accessible, transparent, and open to public debate and democratic accountability.
The encyclical also criticized the concentration of technological power in the hands of a small number of influential corporations and groups capable of shaping information, influencing democratic systems, and steering economic behavior for their own advantage. To address these concerns, the pope urged the establishment of strong legal frameworks, independent oversight mechanisms, informed public participation, and responsible political leadership, dw.com reports.
The Vatican presentation of the document was attended by several AI experts, including Chris Olah, co-founder of Anthropic. Olah acknowledged that AI firms often operate under incentives that may conflict with ethical priorities and welcomed contributions from external institutions, including the Church, to guide technological development in a more responsible direction.
Pope Leo XIV also warned that the expansion of the digital economy is contributing to “new forms of slavery,” citing the exploitation of content moderators exposed to disturbing material and children involved in mining rare earth minerals essential for modern technologies. He said the suffering endured by such workers poses a profound moral challenge for the modern world.
In a historic and unprecedented statement, the pope additionally issued an apology for the Catholic Church’s role in the transatlantic slave trade. Describing slavery as “a wound in Christian memory,” he acknowledged that the Church failed for centuries to issue a universal condemnation of the practice. “For this, in the name of the Church, I sincerely ask for pardon,” he wrote.
