Technology is not simply a tool, says Pope Leo XIV.
Technology requires a two-fold commitment: one, a deepening of scientific research; on the other, the exercise of moral and spiritual discernment “that safeguards the primacy of the human person, to ensure that it will always be human intelligence, with its conscience and freedom, that guides technical innovations and responsibly determines their use and limits.”
Echoing his predecessor Pope Francis’ Laudato Si encyclical, Pope Leo warned on Monday, May 25, that when technology “becomes the standard by which everything is judged, it begins to dictate what matters and what can be discarded, reducing creation to an object of exploitation and human beings to mere cogs in a system driven toward ever greater efficiency.”
“If technological development advances without a corresponding ethical and social progress, the result may be an increase in means without a growth in humanity: ‘having more’ without ‘being more.’ In such a scenario, there is a risk that individuals will be evaluated principally according to the outcomes they produce.”
Pope Leo makes his thoughts on artificial intelligence in his encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, on safeguarding the human person in the time of human intelligence.
“Artificial intelligence can be a valuable tool,” the pope concedes, but the technology “tends to amplify the power of those who already possess economic resources, expertise and access to data.”
“This raises serious concerns, since small but highly influential groups can shape information and consumption patterns, influence democratic processes and steer economic dynamics to their own advantage, undermining social justice and solidarity among peoples.”
The pope insists:
“Ownership of data cannot be left solely in private hands but must be appropriately regulated. Data is the product of many contributors and should not be treated as something to be sold off or entrusted to a select few. It is necessary to think creatively in order to manage data as a common or shared good.”
“Those who control AI will impose their own moral vision, which will become the invisible infrastructure of these systems,” warns the pope, stressing the need for regulation and transparency and what he calls “a measured and vigilant approach.”
Writes Leo: “Technology has the power to heal, connect, educate and protect our common home; but it can also divide, exclude and generate new forms of injustice. In the abstract, technology in and of itself is not a solution to humanity’s problems, just as it is not inherently evil. In practice, however, technology is never neutral, because it takes on the characteristics of those who devise, finance, regulate and use it.”
In using AI, advises Pope Leo, the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, “we must avoid the misconception of equating this type of ‘intelligence’ with that of human beings.”
“These systems merely imitate certain functions of human intelligence. They often surpass human intelligence in speed and computational capacity, offering tangible benefits across many fields. Yet this power remains entirely tied to data processing. So-called artificial intelligences do not undergo experiences, do not possess a body, do not feel joy or pain, do not mature through relationships and do not know from within what love, work, friendship or responsibility mean. Nor do they have a moral conscience, since they do not judge good and evil, grasp the ultimate meaning of situations or bear responsibility for consequences. They may imitate language, behavior and analytical skills, or even simulate empathy and understanding, but they do not understand what they produce, for they lack the affective, relational and spiritual perspective through which human beings grow in wisdom.”
Magnifica Humanitas was issued this 2026, the 135th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum (New Things) in 1891 – the encyclical that gave impetus to the reflection on society, the economy and politics, which is now known as the “Social Doctrine of the Church.”
Recent technologies like nuclear energy, bio-technology, information technology, knowledge of our own DNA and many other abilities, says Pope Leo, “have given those with the knowledge, and especially the economic resources to use them, an impressive dominance over the whole of humanity and the entire world.”
In the past, it was largely up to the State to guide and direct innovation. Today, however, the main drivers of development, says Leo, “are private, often transnational, parties that are endowed with resources and the capacity to intervene that surpass those of many governments. Technological power thus takes on an unprecedented, predominantly ‘private’ aspect, which makes it even more challenging to discern, govern and direct such power toward the common good.”
In confronting technology, Leo uses two biblical images – the Tower of Babel and rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.
In Genesis, Babel is “a city built on pride and the claim to self-sufficiency; communication breaks down, languages are confused and people no longer understand each other.”
In the book of Nehemiah, narrates Leo, “the city is reborn, not through the initiative of one man, but through the shared responsibility of all: men, women, priests, artisans, heads of households and young people all play a part. It is an undertaking with God at the center, which rebuilds relationships before rebuilding with stones. Thus, ancient Jerusalem rediscovers a common language – not one of uniformity, but one of communion, namely the harmony that arises when all persons assume their own role and recognize that their strength comes from the Lord.”
Pleads Pope Leo: “We must, then, avoid the ‘Babel syndrome,’ namely the idolatry of profit that sacrifices the weak, a uniformity that neutralizes differences and the pretense that a single language – even a digital one – can translate everything, including the mystery of the person, into data and performance. The risk of dehumanization – of building a future that excludes God and reduces the other to a means – is an ancient and ever-new temptation that today takes on a technical guise.”
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