Pope Leo XIV

Head of the Catholic Church who chose his papal name in response to artificial intelligence as a new industrial revolution and, in the 2026 encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, calls for AI to be “disarmed” and kept under human conscience and oversight.

Roles

2001 – 2013Prior General, Order of Saint AugustineSource →
2015 – 2023Bishop of Chiclayo, Catholic Church, PeruSource →
2023 – 2025Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, Holy SeeSource →
8 May 2025 – presentPope, Catholic ChurchElected 8 May 2025; the first pope from the United States.Source →

On the record

21 Aug 2026 · Speech · International Catholic Legislators Network, Clementine Hall, Vatican
We must remain vigilant in this regard, lest innovation become another vehicle for ideological or economic colonialism.
Pope, Catholic Church at the time
Added that AI must never reduce "persons and relationships to data and simulations".
To Participants in the Meeting of the International Catholic Legislators Network →
25 May 2026 · Speech · Presentation of Magnifica Humanitas, Synod Hall, Vatican
Artificial intelligence now demands to be 'disarmed,' freed from logics that turn it into an instrument of domination, exclusion and death.
Pope, Catholic Church at the time
Also said "When technology weakens our critical sense, peace itself is at risk."
Presentation and promulgation of the Encyclical Letter “Magnifica humanitas” →
15 May 2026 · Open letter · Holy See
technology is never neutral, because it takes on the characteristics of those who devise, finance, regulate and use it
Pope, Catholic Church at the time
Paragraph 9 of his first encyclical, on safeguarding the human person in the time of AI; paragraph 5 notes the main drivers of development are private parties with capacity surpassing many governments.
Encyclical Letter Magnifica Humanitas →
17 Jun 2025 · Statement · Second Annual Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics and Corporate Governance, Rome
All of us, I am sure, are concerned for children and young people, and the possible consequences of the use of AI on their intellectual and neurological development.
Pope, Catholic Church at the time
Message of the Holy Father to participants in the Second Annual Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Corporate Governance →
10 May 2025 · Speech · Address to the College of Cardinals, Vatican
In our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defence of human dignity, justice and labour.
Pope, Catholic Church at the time
Explaining why he took the name Leo, after Leo XIII and Rerum Novarum.
Address of the Holy Father Leo XIV to the College of Cardinals →