ROME – Pope Leo XIV says the value of human dignity must be maintained as the world faces the changes brought on by the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

He also underscored the principles of the common good, the universal destination of goods, subsidiarity, and solidarity in his first encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, released May 25.

Stressing the “sublime dignity of all persons,” the pope emphasized the need to ensure that this dignity “is not obscured by the pressure of new ideologies or very powerful interests in today’s world,” such as a logic of efficiency that classifies human beings as a means to an end or as something to be improved.

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In this sense, Leo emphasized the importance of protecting people’s rights, especially women’s, saying, “there is still a long way to go to ensure that the rights of a great many, namely women, are equally and genuinely guaranteed throughout the world.”

“It is a fact that doubly poor are those women who endure situations of exclusion, mistreatment and violence, since they are frequently less able to defend their rights,” he said.

The pope said it is not enough to merely state that men and women have equal dignity and rights, but “it is necessary that this be reflected in concrete decisions, such as in laws, access to employment, education, social and political responsibilities, and the way society listens to and values women’s contributions.”

“As long as this gap persists, we cannot say that society truly and fully recognizes that women have the same dignity as men,” he said.

Pope Leo emphasized the need to promote the common good, at the individual, national and international levels, saying the pursuit 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,” he said.

He lamented that amid the digital revolution, “the highest level is not the State, but rather major economic and technological actors that exercise de facto power over the conditions of everyday life” by “monopolizing” expertise, data, access, visibility and interaction.

These processes, he said, must not “be imposed from above in an opaque and unilateral manner,” but must rather be aimed at the common good with transparency and accountability, with states and transnational institutions ensuring fair rules and safeguards.

“When it comes to decisions regarding economic flows and digital platforms, as well as the governance of data and algorithms, we cannot allow a handful of actors to dictate these processes on their own,” he said.

Leo also called for greater equality in terms of access to new technologies, saying, “In the digital age, a just social order guarantees everyone equal access to opportunities, protects the youngest and weakest,” combatting hate and misinformation, subjecting the use of data and technology to public oversight so their use is based not solely on profit, but human dignity.

In another chapter, the pope reflects on the challenges of managing new technologies in a culture that seeks to dominate.

Technologies such as cognitive sciences, nanotechnology, robotics, and biotech can be tools for human development and the development of creation, or, because of their power, Leo explains, adding that they can become accelerators of the “technocratic paradigm” and therefore need a spiritual, ethical, and political guide.

“More power does not necessarily imply something better,” the pope said, and quoted German-Italian priest and theologian Romano Guardini, saying, “Contemporary man has not been trained to use power well.”

Leo cautioned that if there is no authentic moral and social progress growing alongside these technologies, they will ultimately go against humanity.

Speaking of the environmental impact of AI, the pope said the technology can be beneficial for communication and other spheres of life, but it also requires great quantities of energy and water, consuming resources and producing significant carbon emissions.

Also increasing, with different language models, is the need for more calculation and storage, which require cables, data centers, and energy infrastructure, he said, and called for the development of “more sustainable technological solutions” to avoid environmental damage.

He condemned the misuse of AI tech in “the manipulation of information or violations of privacy,” and warned that while often touted as objective, these technologies instead often reflect and reinforce “the stereotypes or ideological bias of their designers and developers.”

He also called for the “disarmament” of AI not just in the military sense, but also in terms of “armed” competition in the economic and cognitive spheres – a disarmament he said does not mean rejecting technology, but rather, “preventing it from dominating humanity.”

In this sense, he cautioned against the loss of what it means to be human, condemning the tendencies toward transhumanism and posthumanism.

While broad and difficult to define, these tendencies represent dangerous ideologies that see the human being as something to be “enhanced” or which envision a future of a “human-machine hybrid,” Leo said.

These tendencies often come packaged with the desire to eliminate vulnerability, pain, and limits, instead of seeing them as opportunities for fraternity and encounter.

Art and culture, if rooted in true humanity, can help the world to resist “the normalization of evil,” he said, and pointed to works such as Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, “seen as a desire for unity,”; Guernica as “a denunciation of dehumanization,”; and the film “Schindler’s List” as “a call not to consign the past to oblivion.”

History can change when only one man or woman truly commits to the dignity of all, he said, and pointed to Martin Luther King Jr. and his advocacy during the civil rights movement in the Untied States, as well as Nelson Mandela and his role in ending apartheid in South Africa.

AI and labor

Pope Leo also warned about the impact of AI and new technologies on young people, including tendencies toward isolation and depression, and the blurring of lines between what is true and what is false, between data and opinion.

He called for a greater commitment to education on the proper use of AI in schools and universities, and also urged greater collaboration in oversight between families, states, and educational institutions and entities.

The pope also issued a lengthy appeal for the defense of work and of workers rights, warning that rapid developments in automation, robotics and AI will not automatically improve daily life, as is often argued.

Rather, the pope said, workers are now pressured to “adapt to the speed and demands of machines,” and they are “de-skilled” and subjected to surveillance and assigned to “rigid and repetitive tasks.”

“Precisely in order to avoid this drift, it is necessary to design systems that are centered on the human person and not solely on performance,” he said.

He also expressed concern about the rise in unemployment, saying the “fourth industrial revolution” is focused on cost reduction and profit increases.

In this sense, he warned against “a significant and rapid contraction in available jobs that would create a chain reaction deeply impacting families, young people and local economies.”

Leo also pointed to increased inequality, noting that AI systems allow wealthy nations to automate quickly, reducing the workforce and increasing unemployment, whereas other regions of the world exist in “hybrid economies” based on underpaid human labor.

“At this time of transition, it is not enough to react only when jobs disappear; we must oversee the transformation in advance,” he said, and called for the establishment of “social criteria for innovation” based on human dignity and equality.

He touched on the rapid development of the world of finance, especially with the introduction of cryptocurrencies, and called for the reinforcement of credit systems, lamenting that the world’s wealth has “grown in absolute terms, it is increasingly concentrated in fewer hands, widening inequalities both within and between countries.”

Just laws and instruments for redistribution are needed, as are fiscal systems that alleviate the burden on poorer nations and demand more of those with greater resources, he said.

Pope Leo also called for caution regarding the development of a dependency on technology and urged greater societal control over oversight.

He cautioned that in the digital era, social control is “made possible by the massive collection of data and use of algorithmic systems” in which movements, purchases, relationships and preferences are tracked.

If this data is used to make decisions that impact the opportunities for credit, employment and essential services, there is risk of discrimination, the pope said.

He noted that the economy is supported by the silent work of millions of people gathering data, moderating content, and training models, and lamented that youth and especially women work for little pay.

AI and modern slavery

Leo also highlighted the problem of inequalities and exploitation in the extraction of materials needed to produce the devices and microprocessors on which AI is based.

In some parts of the world, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, which Pope Francis visited in 2023, children and teenagers work in dangerous conditions to obtain the materials, giving rise to “various forms of servitude linked to the digital economy.”

“The bodies of these people are scarred, injured and worn down so that computational flow may continue uninterruptedly,” he said, noting that criminal use of online platforms, messaging systems and anonymous payment methods allow for a digital exploitation and trafficking of men, women, and children “within the same digital circuits that support much of the global economy.”

“This reality deeply challenges the moral conscience of our time,” Pope Leo said, saying that if technology “promises emancipation, yet produces new forms of global subordination, it stands in contradiction to the fundamental principle of human dignity.”

Leo said the fight against new forms of slavery is a decisive test for discerning the ethical use of AI and digital transformation. He condemned all forms of slavery and issued an appeal to make human dignity and the common good “the focus and goal of society, as well as the guiding criteria for every personal, social and political choice.”

To this end, the pope traced the development of the church’s thought and teaching on human slavery, which had been deemed acceptable but was finally and decisively condemned in the 19th century, particularly by Leo XIII.

The church’s prior acceptance of slavery, he said, is “a wound in Christian memory, one from which we cannot consider ourselves detached.”

“It is impossible not to feel deep sorrow when contemplating the immense suffering and humiliation endured by so many in stark contrast to their immeasurable dignity as persons infinitely loved by the Lord,” he said, adding, “For this, in the name of the Church, I sincerely ask for pardon.”

He said that awareness of the church’s past complicity in slavery and its longtime blindness to that injustice is a call to vigilance in modern times, adding, “What we have learned must be translated into discernment and responsibility in the present.”

“If we want to avoid the need to ask for pardon again in the future for having failed to respect the treasure of human dignity that is required by our faith, it falls to us today to denounce, clearly and firmly, trafficking in its many forms and, together … support concrete efforts of prevention, protection, liberation and rehabilitation,” he said.

To this end, Pope Leo cautioned that “even today, colonialism assumes new forms,” and that it no longer involves solely the domination of bodies, but “appropriates data, transforming personal lives into exploitable information.”

“Entire regions, especially those marked by structural fragility and limited geopolitical relevance, are currently subjected to a new mindset of extraction: that of health data, epidemiological profiles, genetic maps and demographic information,” he said.

These have become new sources of power and can be used to train predictive models, guide investments and determine “who and what is deemed to matter,” Leo said.

He warned that the small circle of those who control health data, often collected “under the pretext of aid, research or innovation,” have a structural leverage over the future and can shape markets, deciding where to allocate medicines and investments.

“Here lies one of the most urgent moral challenges of our time: to ensure that shared knowledge becomes a true common good rather than an instrument of dominance,” he said.

In this sense, the pope said there is a need to restore to individuals “not only the data that describes them, but also the ability to decide how it is used, by whom and for whose benefit. Otherwise, the digital age will not be post-colonial, but colonial in another form.”

This new, modern slavery is fueled by economic chains and digital infrastructure, he said, and called for greater transparency in the tech industry to avoid “hidden exploitation,” clearer criteria for ethical verification and due diligence, and greater cooperation with authorities and civil society to prevent payment and profiling tools from being used for “the recruitment and control of victims.”

A path forward

Pope Leo concluded his encyclical offering what he said was “a sober yet demanding program of Christian life” with which to navigate the digital era in light of the Gospel.

This program, he said, is based on Gospel values, seeks ecclesial unity and builds the good of the world as a community.

“As a believer among believers, I invite everyone to contemplate, in the face of the Son of God, the grandeur of humanity that shines a light also on the era of AI,” he said, saying Christians “are called to cooperate in the work of creation, rather than be disinterested observers of technological processes that limit our freedom and responsibility.”

The spirituality necessary in digital era is one centered on the Eucharist, and is one of ecclesial unity and love, which directs Christians toward others and propels them toward justice and sharing, with a preferential attention to the poor and marginalized, Leo said.

The guiding principle for Christians, the pope said, “must be the acceptance of human limitations as a natural and positive reality, and should be characterized by shared responsibility and a language characterized by the Gospel.”

He stressed the importance of relationships, saying, “In an era that favors speed and fragmentation, the human person still yearns to receive care and recognition from attentive minds, kind words and hands capable of tenderness.”

“The digital culture multiplies connections and offers new opportunities for interaction; yet, the human heart retains an irrevocable need for genuine closeness,” he said, and urged individuals to “cherish places and times where physical presence remains crucial.”
“In the humble fidelity of daily life, even the era of AI can become a time in which the Holy Spirit brings about the civilization of love in our lives,” he said.