Catholic bishops in the United States reacted positively to Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, which touched on both concerns and hopes about the development of artificial intelligence (AI) with his focus being the dignity of the human person and the common good.
“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,” Leo said in Magnifica Humanitas, published May 25 and signed on May 15 — the 135th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum Novarum.
Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), issued a statement highlighting the significance of that date and noting that Rerum Novarumaddressed social concerns and political movements related to the technological advancement experienced through the industrial revolution.
As Pope Leo XIII addressed the challenges of the industrial revolution, Coakley said, “our Holy Father shines the light of the Gospel and the tradition of the Church on the new opportunities and challenges posed by the rise of artificial intelligence.”
“The pope calls us to never lose sight of the inherent dignity of all human life and the moral imperative for technology to support peace and the common good rather than the limited interest of a few,” he added.
Coakley said Leo’s message is “a powerful reminder that no technology can replace a child of God, and all technology should be placed at the service of helping humanity thrive.” He said he and his fellow bishops will continue looking through the encyclical and encouraged “people of goodwill” to reflect and apply the teachings.
He said the bishops' Committee on Doctrine will lead and coordinate further work from the bishops on AI development that reflects the Holy Father’s emphasis on human dignity.
Bishops discuss AI development
Several other bishops offered similar praise for the encyclical, emphasizing the importance of applying these values globally in the development of AI.
Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, issued a video message saying that Leo “wants to defend the dignity of humanity." He said the Holy Father “knows we have a magnificence because of our creation and redemption and he worries about some of these dimensions of AI.”
He said Leo is concerned that among some people, “power is more important than truth” in the modern world, in which people are motivated by clicks and engagement online. He also echoed Leo’s concern about the development of knowledge, warning against allowing AI to replace the human mind in developing knowledge and expressing unease about AI replacing people in the workforce.
Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia said the rapid advancement of AI must be “accompanied by a moral and ethical framework that guides their usage.”
“While this powerful technology presents significant opportunities to advance healthcare, education, and share the good news of the Gospel, it also poses significant moral and ethical pitfalls that must be navigated and reflected upon,” Pérez said.
“Pope Leo emphasizes with crystal clarity that the sanctity of human life must remain paramount as artificial intelligence systems continue to develop and become more closely integrated into nearly every aspect of our lives,” he added.
Bishop William E. Koenig of the Diocese of Wilmington, Delaware, said the encyclical will “help us navigate this time of digital transition and both safeguard and nurture God’s gift of our magnificent humanity.”
“[It] leads us through the discernment of what is just and right for the common good of our shared humanity,” he added. "Pope Leo calls us not to judge our use of artificial intelligence merely by its effectiveness but rather the human, social, and spiritual bonds it enables or destroys.”
Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, said in a statement that the encyclical is “welcome in this time of tremendous social and technological change, especially concerning artificial intelligence and the right use of such tools.”
“I encourage all to join me over the coming days to reading Magnifica Humanitas in its entirety and prayerfully considering all that the Holy Father shares,” he said.
Vice President JD Vance welcomed the release of Pope Leo XIV’s Magnifica Humanitas in an interview, calling the Holy Father’s first encyclical “profound.”
Vance, a Catholic, told NBC News on May 26 that while he had not read the document in its entirety, “What I read of it sounds very profound, and the sort of thing that you would expect and hope from a leader of the Church.”
“The thing about morality is that the principles never change, but the way you apply those principles does, because the world changes, right?” Vance said.
“You have new technologies and warfare, so you have to update ‘just war’ doctrine,” he said. “New ways of human beings interacting with one another, so you have to kind of rethink the entire Catholic social teaching in light of the new world that we live in. And I think that’s exactly what the pope is trying to do. So I’m glad that he did it.”
Vance has previously critiqued Leo for weighing in on the Iran war, saying that while it’s good the pope discusses what he cares about, “in some cases it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality, to stick to matters of whatʼs going on in the Catholic Church, and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy.”
He has also said that he respects and admires Leo and likes “that the pope is an advocate for peace.”
The vice president’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment or to verify quotations in the NBC report.
KOLKATA, India — The unprecedented visit of Marco Rubio, U.S. secretary of state, to the mother house of the Missionaries of Charity (MC), commencing his May 23–26 trip to India, has brought joy to the congregation founded by Mother Teresa, canonized as St. Teresa of Kolkata in 2016.
After landing at Kolkata airport in the early hours of May 23, Rubio headed straight to the mother house. Accompanied by his wife, Jeanette Dousdebes, he attended a special Mass at the tomb of the nun, known as the “saint of the gutters,” on the ground floor of the mother house and placed a wreath of flowers on it.
A wreath from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio bears a card from the U.S. Department of State reading “With Respect and Tribute from the People of The United States of America” at the tomb of St. Teresa of Kolkata on May 23, 2026. | Credit: Anto Akkara
“With Respect and Tribute from the People of The United States of America” read the card pinned to the wreath Rubio placed on the tomb of Mother Teresa, which is thronged by hundreds of pilgrims daily.
After the nearly hourlong Mass, Rubio spent another half hour with the Missionaries of Charity sisters at the mother house as dozens of excited novices looked on from the upper verandah.
“It was beautiful. His respect for the mother is amazing. We thank God for this visit,” Sister Concettina, the congregationʼs secretary-general, told EWTN News after Rubio left, briefing the media, who had waited patiently outside for a couple of hours.
From the mother house, Rubio and his entourage moved to Shishu Bhavan (a childrenʼs home), 650 feet away on the same A.J.C. Bose Road, where Rubio handed out teddy bears to destitute children with disabilities.
“Mother Teresa left a tremendous legacy of compassion and service. I was honored to visit the Missionaries of Charity today to pay homage to her legacy,” Rubio said on X before flying from Kolkata to New Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Telegraph, an English-language daily based in Kolkata, also hinted at the significance of Rubioʼs mother house visit, titling its report “U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visits mother house in Kolkata on first leg of India trip.”
A long-scheduled day of double joy
Later that afternoon, it proved a long-scheduled day of double joy for the Missionaries of Charity, with 25 novices of different nationalities taking their final professions at Auxilium Parish Church in a solemn service led by Archbishop Elias Frank of Kolkata in the presence of hundreds of sisters.
Sister Concettina, secretary-general of the Missionaries of Charity, briefs the media at the mother house in Kolkata, India, after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit on May 23, 2026. | Credit: Anto Akkara
“It is a day of double joy for us,” Sister Marie Juan, one of the senior Missionaries of Charity councilors who formally “accepted” the vows during the two-hour service — with Superior General Sister Mary Joseph away in Australia — told EWTN News while coming out of the church.
The senior Missionary of Charity official was responding to an EWTN News question on how she felt about the U.S. secretary of state visiting the Mother House at the start of his four-day visit to India.
An act of solidarity amid recent strains
The congregation had previously undergone a stressful period when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Modi canceled its FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act) license to receive foreign donations on Christmas Day 2021 — alongside thousands of Indian church and secular advocacy and charity groups, including Bread for the World and Compassion International.
Following widespread Indian and international outcry, the Modi government restored the Missionaries of Charityʼs FCRA license within a fortnight, after peers in the U.K. House of Lords slammed the decision in a Jan. 6, 2022, debate.
“This unique visit is reassuring for us,” Alexander Anthony, secretary-general of the All India Catholic Union — the official national lay network for Catholics in India — told EWTN News on May 26.
The Rubio visit, said Kolkata-based Anthony, “is an act of solidarity with the MCs and Christian community in India. It gives out a clear message to the rulers as the community is distressed.”
India has reported steadily increasing incidents of anti-Christian violence, rising from 127 in 2014, when Modi assumed power, to 834 by 2024.
The Christian community has been on edge recently after the BJP, for the first time, took power in West Bengal state — of which Kolkata is the capital — in the April elections, amid widespread criticism of the deletion of more than 9 million voters from the rolls, equivalent to 12% of the voter list.
Even the Missionaries of Charity sisters in Kolkata had to appeal to get their voting rights restored, The Times of India reported.
The Vatican Museums and the Archdiocese of Sydney have launched an immersive experience of the Sistine Chapel in Sydney, Australia.
The exhibit will enable visitors to experience Michelangeloʼs world-famous Renaissance frescoes beyond the Vatican ahead of the International Eucharistic Congress in Sydney in 2028.
A conference was held in Rome on May 22 to celebrate the initiative “Sistine Chapel Revelations: An Immersive Exhibition.”
Barbara Jatta, director of the Vatican Museums; Archbishop Anthony Fisher, OP, of Sydney; and Australian Ambassador to the Holy See Keith Pitt, among others, attended the conference.
Human capability at its best
Fisher called the Sydney exhibit a valuable chance for visitors to see one of the Churchʼs masterpieces of art without traveling to Rome. He praised the exhibitʼs evangelizing power and ability to help visitors understand the artʼs mysteries in ways “even the most devoted pilgrim to the Vatican Museums may not always manage.”
"Until you have seen the Sistine Chapel, you can have no adequate conception of what man is capable of,” Fisher said, referring to a famous quote by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. "Not that any virtual reality experience can substitute for visiting the Sistine itself! [But] in Sydney … we have seen how beauty and transcendence can mesmerize the senses and speak to the heart, as the painted stories have revealed themselves anew."
The Sistine Chapel is widely regarded as the site of some of the greatest artworks of the High Renaissance. It is the main chapel of the Apostolic Palace, the popeʼs official residence in Vatican City. It was built from 1473 to 1481 under Pope Sixtus IV and has hosted papal conclaves since 1492.
Its famous artworks are by some of the periodʼs most celebrated artists, such as Michelangelo Buonarotti, Domenico Ghirlandaio, and Sandro Botticelli.
Michelangeloʼs frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, including the ceiling and the “Last Judgment” behind the high altar, are among the most renowned in art history.
Australia hopeful for a papal visit in 2028
There is hope that the Sydney exhibition will be a precursor to a future visit by Pope Leo XIV to Australia. The last pope to visit the country was Pope Benedict XVI, for World Youth Day, in 2008.
Pitt praised the immersive Sistine Chapel project as an “extraordinary opportunity for Australia” and expressed his hope that it would lead to Leoʼs future visit to the country for the 54th International Eucharistic Congress in 2028.
The International Eucharistic Congress is a gathering of Catholics from around the world to celebrate the central doctrine of the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.
Held about once every four years, the congress is often attended by a papal representative and, at times, the pope himself goes to celebrate the closing Mass. The last time a pope attended the Eucharistic congress was in 2021, when Pope Francis celebrated the closing Mass in Budapest, Hungary.
“We are very hopeful that the pope will attend. He has been invited by the government, the prime minister, and, of course, the embassy. We are working closely with the Holy See,” Pitt said. “It would be almost exactly 20 years since the last papal visit to Australia, and he would be very warmly received.”
The Sistine Chapel exhibition will run from May 15 to July 19 at St. Maryʼs Cathedral in Sydney.
OYO, Nigeria — Bishop Emmanuel Adetoyese Badejo of Nigeria’s Catholic Diocese of Oyo has called on Christians to invoke the Holy Spirit against violence, kidnapping, and hatred in the West African nation, urging believers to reject what he described as “unchristian rhetoric of vengeance” and instead embrace “the language of Pentecost: unity and love.”
In his Pentecost 2026 message shared with ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, on Sunday, Badejo reflected on the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and linked the solemnity to Nigeria’s present security and social challenges — including banditry, insurgency, kidnappings, and growing hostility on digital media.
“We must ask for the Holy Spirit that rescued Paul and Silas from unjust imprisonment,” the bishop said, adding: “Pray that the same Spirit, that same divine force, shake down the enclaves that hold God’s children captive in Nigeria and set them free, rendering powerless all their captors and torturers.”
“We pray that that same force will bend the hearts of the agents of evil to conversion and to God,” he said.
In his message titled “Come Holy Spirit, Dispel Our Fears,” Badejo described Pentecost as the moment that transformed fearful disciples into courageous witnesses of Christ after receiving the Holy Spirit.
“The apostles and the mother of Jesus gathered together in prayer, in anxiety or out of fear,” he said. “However, the Bible teaches that after the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles a change came over them.”
Quoting Acts 2:4, he said: “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak different languages as the Spirit gave them power to express themselves.” Pentecost, he said, “repaired the damage caused by human self-centeredness at the Tower of Babel when human beings were scattered and no longer understood one another.”
He urged Christians not to surrender to fear despite Nigeria’s ongoing difficulties.
“The Holy Spirit will give us courage to do Jesus’ will in spite of our troubles like it did to the apostles on the first day,” Badejo said. “After the Holy Spirit descended on them those few disciples lost all fear and witnessed to Christ.”
“No longer were they closed in one room for whatever reason; they burst out to the entire territory, refusing to allow fear or their concerns to paralyze them,” he added.
The Catholic leader, who started his episcopal ministry in October 2007 as coadjutor bishop of the Oyo Diocese, also called on public officials and citizens to allow the Holy Spirit to guide their responsibilities toward the common good.
“Pray that he inspire those in governance to use their position and power to secure lives and property,” he said, and further appealed: “Pray that those who are equipped to make life better for all be made to do their duties.”
Addressing young people in particular, Badejo challenged them to transform social media into a space for evangelization and peace-building.
“I ask all youths to ‘evangelize and catechize the social media’ not just by being present on them but by transforming them with good news,” he said, warning against “the spread of violent, degrading, and manipulative online content.”
“Much news and videos of pornography, exploitation, calumny, abuse, torture, violence, and inhumanity are on the internet around today,” he noted, lamenting: “Many are fake and malicious.”
Badejo cautioned that such content “provide a dark kind of pleasure but they offend human dignity and do not make anything better.”
“Those who have the Holy Spirit must choose to share only content that add value to others,” he said, describing this approach as the “Pentecost Outreach.”
Badejo further urged young people “touched by the Holy Spirit to fight extremism on the social media because all violence, evil, and war in this world begin from a thought and an idea.”
The Nigerian Church leader strongly criticized prayer expressions that invoke destruction against perceived enemies.
“People who are praying like this are pagans and are telling us that there is no spirit of God in our churches or in the world," he said, urging Christians to abandon such practices. “Stop these nonsense prayers and begin to speak the language of the Pentecost: unity and love.”
Referencing St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, the bishop said the fruits of the Holy Spirit are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
He also pointed believers to the example of Jesus on the cross.
“Remember how Jesus Christ forgave the world on the cross,” Badejo said, adding: “This is what it means to be born again and to create a better world.”
This story was first published by ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, and has been adapted by EWTN News.
VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV on Monday personally attended the presentation of his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, in an uncustomary gesture. Upon his arrival at the event, held in the Vaticanʼs Synod Hall, he was greeted with sustained applause from an audience made up of members of the Roman Curia, representatives of academia, and the diplomatic corps.
Among the speakers was Canadian Christopher Olah, co-founder of Anthropic, one of the leading artificial intelligence (AI) companies. The firm has recently had tensions with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump after prohibiting the U.S. Department of Defense from using its software for military purposes.
Some observers had raised concerns about including a representative of a major tech company like Anthropic in an event of this kind. The Holy Father himself dispelled any hesitation by thanking Olah for his presence: “What a great sign of hope it is that with our differences we can listen to one another,” he said in his remarks.
“This interchange clearly bespeaks the gravity of the moment, as well as confidence that together we can discern the major questions of our time, and so the future of humanity,” he added.
In his remarks prior to the pope’s address, Olah echoed the same idea: "That is why, if we want this technology to go well, it is enormously important that there be people outside those incentives — people who care about things going well and insist on safety, who are paying close attention, who are willing to say hard things, who are willing to be our earnest, thoughtful, critics. It is through dialogue and mutual effort, through the push and pull, that humanity will achieve great things. That is what I see in Magnifica Humanitas, and it is why I am grateful to His Holiness and the Church for taking up this work of discernment.”
Christopher Olah, co-founder of AI company Anthropic, says he is grateful to Pope Leo XIV and the Church for “taking up this work of discernment” on artificial intelligence, during his address at the presentation of the encyclical Magnifica Humanitas on May 25, 2026, in the Synod Hall of the Vatican. | Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News/Vatican Pool
Olah, who is not a believer, also issued a call to various sectors — religious communities, civil society, academics, and governments — to follow the pope’s example with this document: “to take this seriously, to look closely, and to push events in a better direction. We need informed critics who will tell the labs when we are failing. We need moral voices that the incentives cannot bend.”
It is no coincidence that Leo XIV signed his first encyclical on May 15, the same date on which his predecessor Leo XIII promulgated Rerum Novarum (“On New Things”) in 1891 in response to the dehumanization brought about by the Industrial Revolution. As the pope explained, the world today faces a transformation of perhaps even greater scope.
“Today we find ourselves facing a transformation of similar magnitude, with perhaps even greater consequences. Artificial intelligence already touches many areas of our lives and affects decisions that shape human coexistence,” he said.
The pope expressed particular concern about the impact of new technologies on the conduct of war, which, he warned, is changing dramatically.
“Like the earlier Leo, I feel entrusted to look upon another huge transformation with eyes of faith, with lucidity of reason, with openness to mystery, and with cries of the poor and the earth resounding in my heart,” he said.
The Holy Father also described the method behind the drafting of this magisterial document, which began in July 2025 at the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo. In it, he seeks to reaffirm what makes us human in a society shaped by technology.
He emphasized that Magnifica Humanitas was born from listening: “I have listened to scientists and engineers who work with sincere enthusiasm on technologies capable of alleviating immense suffering, to political leaders and public officials who have perseveringly sought just rules, to parents and teachers who are deeply concerned for the future of younger generations,” he said, without naming individuals.
At the same time, he acknowledged hearing “Other very troubling voices have also reached me about increasingly autonomous weapons systems practically beyond any human reach to govern them effectively.”
“I hear very troubling accounts of algorithms that can block access to healthcare, employment, and security on the basis of data tainted by prejudice and injustice. And Iʼve heard the silence of those who have no voice when decisions are made — decisions likely to generate new forms of exclusion and suffering,” he lamented.
In line with the document — which states that artificial intelligence is not morally neutral — the pope called for AI to be “disarmed.”
“The word is strong, I know, but deliberately chosen because this moment needs words capable of attracting attention, awakening consciences, and indicating paths forward for humanity,” he warned.
“The Church has long been working for nuclear disarmament, aware that every great technical power can affect peopleʼs lives, and so must be accompanied by adequate moral discernment and public control. Nuclear disarmament remains a service to peace and the dignity of the human family,” he added.
Also speaking at the presentation were three cardinals of the Roman Curia: Secretary of State Pietro Parolin; Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; and Cardinal Michael Czerny, SJ, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
Two theologians also took the floor: Anna Rowlands, a specialist in Catholic social teaching and migration ethics at Durham University, and Leocadie Lushombo, an expert in political theology and Catholic social thought at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University in California.
This story was originally published by ACI Prensa, EWTN News' Spanish-language news service. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Pope Leo XIV just released his first encyclical — and it may be the most important Church document of our lifetime. Called Magnifica Humanitas, it covers artificial intelligence, human dignity, childrenʼs phones, autonomous weapons, doomscrolling, the mystery of the human soul, and why no machine will ever have the final word on what it means to be a person made in the image of God.
The full document is available to download here — and worth a read. But for a quick taste of whatʼs inside, here are 15 powerful quotes from the encyclical:
“Never has humanity had such power over itself.” (par. 4)
"In practice, however, technology is never neutral, because it takes on the characteristics of those who devise, finance, regulate and use it. Therefore, the primary choice is not between a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to technology, but rather between constructing Babel or rebuilding Jerusalem; between a power that claims to dominate the heavens and a people who work together in the presence of God to rebuild the walls of fraternal coexistence.” (par. 9)
“In the era of artificial intelligence, when human dignity is threatened by new forms of dehumanization, ours is the pressing duty to remain profoundly human. We must lovingly safeguard the grandeur of humanity bestowed upon us and revealed in its fullness in Christ, the splendor of which no machine can ever replace.” (par. 15)
“Thus, the ‘rejected stones’ — the poor, the sick, the migrants and the least among us — will become the cornerstone, and a solid, welcoming common home will emerge on the earth, where love and faithfulness will finally meet, and righteousness and peace will embrace (cf. Ps 85:10).” (par.16)
“Human dignity does not depend on a person’s abilities, wealth, or position in life, nor on the right or wrong choices made; instead, it is a gift that precedes and transcends each person, endowed by God as an expression of his unfailing love.” (par. 50)
“Among these ideologies, I consider particularly insidious the one that suggests that every person must earn or justify his or her own worth, to the point of attributing greater value to those who are more efficient or effective.” (par. 51)
“No sin, failure, humiliation, or exclusion can diminish the profound value of a human life that God has willed and called into being.” (par. 52)
“Solidarity demands that decisions regarding data, algorithms, platforms and artificial intelligence take into account not only the immediate benefit for a few, but also the impact on all peoples and on future generations.” (par. 76)
“For an algorithm, an error is a flaw to be corrected; for a person, however, an error can be a catalyst for profound change. A person’s future is not calculable, but depends on one’s freedom — elevated by the inexhaustible grace of God — and on the relationships cultivated.” (par. 128)
“Having a personal mobile device at too early an age and using it without adult supervision can exacerbate young people’s vulnerabilities, foster addiction, and expose them to isolation, bullying, and cyberbullying, as well as to pressures to share intimate images or sensitive information.” (par. 141)
“Even in the darkest nights, the Lord raises up men and women who refuse to give up, who persevere in doing good, who protect the vulnerable and open pathways to reconciliation. The memory of the saints, righteous people, and the oft-forgotten peacemakers, show us that grace does not magically eliminate conflict, but instead it inspires active resistance to evil and an astonishing creativity in doing good.” (par. 211)
“The civilization of love will not arise from a single or spectacular gesture, but from the sum total of small and steadfast acts of fidelity that serve as a bulwark against dehumanization.” (par. 213)
“‘Let us disarm words and we will help to disarm the world.’ Words have enormous power, something we experience in our daily interactions; for example, spoken words can change our mood for better or for worse." (par. 214)
“No computational system, however sophisticated, can create a heart that gives itself, or a conscience that discerns good from evil. Even when machines excel in efficiency, a human face that asks to be gazed upon remains the center of our history. This human face is the fullness toward which history is moving.” (par. 233)
“Let us remain faithful to the truth! Living amid incessant flows of information, opinions and images, we know how easy it can be to influence decisions and preferences through increasingly sophisticated algorithms. In this context, it is imperative to cultivate hearts that love the truth, prefer what is right despite the most appealing content and pursue wisdom rather than immediate results.” (par. 237)
Pope Leo XIV devotes a substantial portion of his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, to the impact of the digital revolution on education and family life.
The pontiff acknowledges that “rapid technological transformations reveal just how unprepared we are on the educational level.” He warns that “the pervasiveness of digital media fosters a culture of immediacy and hyper-stimulation, which gives rise to fatigue, boredom, and apathy concerning the effort required for seeking the truth.”
In response, he emphasizes that education “is a long journey requiring patience and therefore needs time for development and for engagement with reality beyond appearances,” something he considers “fundamental,” because — as he recalls — every technology “shapes those who use it.”
The risk of extinguishing the desire to ask questions
In the encyclical, Leo XIV does not offer ready-made answers or an easy list of tips. Rather, he issues a broad call to rethink what it means to educate people in the use of artificial intelligence and its implications. Ultimately, as he himself states, it is a matter of educating people “to decide when and for what purpose it ought not to be used.”
“The speed and ease with which answers or summaries can be obtained risk extinguishing the desire to ask questions, which is a process that bears fruit only over time,” the pope writes. To illustrate this point, he turns to the Seventh Letter of the Greek philosopher Plato, from 353 B.C., a cornerstone of Western thought.
“We must learn, then, how to exercise restraint in the use of AI and to protect our young people from the promise of the perfect machine, from that subtle temptation which renders human thought seemingly superfluous precisely when it is most needed,” he suggests, recalling that, as Plato said, the deepest and most important realities are learned only with great time and effort.
‘Early and unsupervised exposure’
The pope also warns about the negative impact on sleep, attention, and emotional regulation caused by “early and unsupervised exposure to digital devices and social media.”
This is compounded, he continues, “by easy access to violent or degrading content that offends sensibility, to pornographic and hypersexualized material, to messages that trivialize the body and emotions, and to proposals that normalize risky behavior.”
“Having a personal mobile device at too early an age and using it without adult supervision can exacerbate young people’s vulnerabilities, foster addiction, and expose them to isolation, bullying, and cyberbullying, as well as to pressures to share intimate images or sensitive information,” he warns.
In this regard, the pontiff acknowledges that it is difficult for parents to resist on their own the “influence of business models that monetize attention and time.” Hence his call for “an alliance among policymakers, educational institutions, and families that is capable of concretely supporting adults in this task.”
“Farsighted public policies are needed,” he insists, “to oppose the immediate interests of platforms, concentrated in a few hands, when they conflict with the well-being of minors.”
Along these lines, without pointing to any specific government, he speaks positively of legislative initiatives promoted in countries such as Australia, France, and Spain, and urges the promotion of “setting age limits, holding service providers accountable rather than shifting the whole burden of control onto families, and for providing specific protections against all forms of online sexual exploitation and violence. Thus can children and adolescents, who are entrusted to our care, be genuinely protected as a precious treasure.”
Leo also identifies several pressing challenges within education in the face of the emergence of artificial intelligence.
“Many educational systems struggle to keep pace with change and to support the integral development of students,” he notes.
The development of information technologies and AI is causing curricula designed for another era to be obsolete, while school organization, spaces, assessment methods, and the very role of the teacher must be rethought “in order to promote an authentically integral education that addresses every dimension of the person.”
“It is necessary to support the ongoing formation of teachers throughout their professional lives, so that they can engage positively with new technologies, helping students to use them responsibly, critically, and creatively rather than passively succumbing to their influence,” he says.
The Holy Father also identifies a challenge of an intellectual and wisdom-based nature. “Without careful attention, an educational system lacking in a love for truth may emerge, in which an incessant flow of information replaces the essential exercise of research, reflection, and discernment,” he laments.
A healthy attitude of attention
In this context, he warns of the proliferation of a fragmented knowledge, while “it becomes difficult to grasp reality as a whole, to ask profound questions about meaning, or to develop authentic, critical, and creative thought.”
“A genuinely healthy attitude is needed, requiring rhythms that incorporate silence, in-depth study, reading, and judicious analysis, for without these elements inner freedom may be compromised,” he proposes.
The Church’s social doctrine, the pope says, calls for a renewed educational alliance among families, schools, Christian communities, and public institutions. This takes concrete form when principles are translated into educational goals: educating in sobriety and a sense of limits; in recognizing the right of others and of future generations to enjoy the goods received or created by human ingenuity; in freedom and responsibility; and in a sense of transcendence and the common good.
“Schools are not called to follow the pace of the digital world but to offer that which the digital sphere by itself cannot provide, namely a shared time for learning and developing trustworthy relationships,” he concludes.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Memorial Day marks the cultural beginning of summer in the United States, and in the midst of all the fun of the three-day weekend, it’s easy for kids to think of this holiday as representing nothing more than the end of school and the beginning of barbecue and pool party season.
Here are some ideas that gently introduce children to the deeper meaning of Memorial Day.
1. Create a memorial flower boat.
This is an easy but beautiful craft that uses materials that you probably have lying around the house. Though it is based on the Navy’s tradition of floating flowers out into the ocean to recall sailors whose lives were lost at sea, it could be used to honor fallen soldiers from any branch of the military.
2. Write a letter to a soldier.
Talk to your children about what our men and women in uniform do for our country, then have them write a letter or draw a picture to send to someone who is currently in the military.
3. Take flowers to a veterans cemetery.
Check online to see if there’s a veterans cemetery near you. If there is, consider stopping by with a bouquet of flowers on your way to your Memorial Day plans.
4. Make a pin for a veteran you know.
If you have a friend or family member who is a veteran, have the kids make one of these pretty pins to honor the service he or she provided to our country. This is a good opportunity to talk about where this person served, why he or she was there, and to mention the fact that some of this person’s fellow soldiers were not so fortunate as to make it back home to their families.
5. Make an American flag cake.
You won’t have any problem convincing your kids to help make this Memorial Day cake that is as delicious as it is easy to put together. Working together in the kitchen is always a great opportunity for family bonding moments, and in the process of icing the cake and laying out the flag pattern, chat with your kids about what the American flag represents and all the people who have given their lives to defend it.
6. Say a prayer for the souls of departed soldiers.
The easiest suggestion of all: Simply take a few moments today and have your family pause to say a prayer for the repose of the souls of all the men and women who gave their lives in the service of our country.
This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, EWTN News’ sister partner, on May 30, 2011, and has been updated and adapted by EWTN News English.
In his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, published Monday, Pope Leo XIV calls on society and AI developers to implement “shared standards of social justice” in order for artificial intelligence to respect human dignity and serve the common good.
He also warns that “a more moral AI is not enough if that morality is determined by a few … In fact, as with every major technological shift, AI tends to amplify the power of those who already possess economic resources, expertise and access to data.”
The first encyclical letter of Leo XIV covers a wide range of social issues, focusing heavily on the impacts of AI in the areas of education, the economy, unemployment, work, the development of young people, human trafficking and war.
He proposes the principles of Catholic Social Doctrine — the dignity of the person, the common good, the universal destination of goods, subsidiarity, solidarity and justice — as guidelines for decision-making and the “criteria for judging whether technologies truly serve humanity or are subjugating it.”
While rejecting dichotomous thinking that pits the opportunities of AI against its risks, or enthusiasm against fear, Leo offers a stark assessment of the technological paradigm the world finds itself in today and describes a path of progress that serves people “or a progress that subjects them to the mentality of power.”
“The risk extends beyond the misuse of certain technologies. More gravely, the pervasive technocratic paradigm in which we are immersed, and that is amplified by the digital revolution and AI, threatens to normalize an anti-human vision,” he writes.
Leo borrows the term, “technocratic paradigm,” from Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si', in which, Leo writes, Francis critiqued a paradigm “that seeks to reduce everything to an object to be dominated.”
In that anti-human vision, he continues, “the fullness of life is equated with having more, reducing weakness, eliminating uncertainty and exerting total control. When efficiency becomes the ultimate measure of value, human beings are tempted to see themselves as a project to be optimized rather than as persons called to relationship and communion.”
According to Pope Leo, the central question — safeguarding our humanity — is something everyone should have a role in answering.
He invokes one of his spiritual guides, St. Augustine of Hippo, quoting from “De Civitate Dei” (“The City of God”): “‘Two loves have built two cities: the earthly city, the love of self even to the contempt of God; the heavenly city, the love of God even to the contempt of self.’ As throughout history, these two loves continue to contend for dominance in our hearts today.”
Pope Leo XIV signed his first encyclical, ‘Magnifica Humanitas:’ On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence, on May 15, 2026, the 135th anniversary of the encyclical ‘Rerum Novarum’ by Pope Leo XIII. ‘Magnifica Humanitas’ was released on May 25, 2026. | Credit: Vatican Media. Image composition: EWTN News
From Catholic Social Doctrine to the fight for power
The encyclical’s 245 paragraphs are broken down into an introduction and five chapters, with the first two dedicated to an explanation of the development of the Church’s Social Doctrine from Pope Leo XIII to today, the main principles of that doctrine, and how they can be applied to the current technological age.
Chapter three introduces “the technocratic paradigm” of artificial intelligence and the imbalance of digital power.
Chapter four turns to the importance of safeguarding truth, democracy, work, education, and human freedom in the age of AI, while the fifth chapter is dedicated to an analysis of the normalization of war, the fight for power, and how everyone has a responsibility to help build a civilization of love through the cultivation of peace and justice.
Throughout the encyclical, Leo draws on the image of construction to ask how humanity will respond to the new technological age. Humanity, he says, must choose between building the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) and building a city where God and humanity can dwell together, as Nehemiah gathered together people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile (Nehemiah 2-6).
“In light of these two images, the Holy Spirit challenges us today regarding our relationship with technology and the ongoing digital revolution,” he writes. “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.”
Pope Leo XIV draws on quotations from prominent 19th and 20th-century thinkers, both Catholic and Jewish, including St. John Paul II, Victor Frankl, Hannah Arendt, J.R.R. Tolkien, Giorgio La Pira, and Fr. Romano Guardini, to argue that while technology is not a solution in itself to humanity’s problems, nor is it inherently evil.
“In practice, however, technology is never neutral, because it takes on the characteristics of those who devise it, finance it, regulate it and use it,” he writes.
The choice, he continues, is not between a “yes” or “no” to technology, but “between constructing Babel or rebuilding Jerusalem; between a power that claims to dominate the heavens and a people who work together in the presence of God to rebuild the walls of fraternal coexistence.”
Writing that he does not wish to give a comprehensive overview of AI, the pope points readers to previous writings by the Church on AI, in particular, the 2025 note Antiqua et Novaby the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Dicastery for Culture and Education and Quo Vadis, Humanitas? published earlier this year by the International Theological Commission — both of which are cited often in the footnotes of Magnifica Humanitas.
Christian humanism and the technocratic paradigm
The pope writes about the mindsets of transhumanism and posthumanism and how they are the ideological vision underlying technology.
He proposes a Christian humanism, where human beings “are not confined by the boundaries of their own nature; rather, they are called to self-transcendence, not through an escape from reality or a contempt for their limitations, but through their fulfillment in love.”
In Magnifica Humanitas, the Holy Father also expresses concern about the “new monopolies of AI.”
“To speak of the common good means exposing this new form of epistemic, economic, and political asymmetry,” he writes.
The key question, he says, is that posed by Saint John Paul II: Does AI “make human life on earth ‘more human’ in every aspect of that life? Does it make it more worthy of man?’”
Leo writes that “a decisive test for the ethical discernment of AI and digital transformation” is in the fight against new forms of slavery, such as human trafficking. The pontiff goes on to “sincerely ask for pardon,” in the name of the Church, for the “immense suffering and humiliation endured by so many” before slavery was unequivocally condemned in the 19th century.
“This development offers a clear example of the Church’s growth in understanding the perennial truths of Revelation that she safeguards. Although there was not always consistency in practice,” he writes, “there has been a continuous affirmation throughout history of the dignity of every human being, created in the image of God, even if it took eighteen centuries for its full incompatibility with slavery to be explicitly recognized.”
The memory of past blindness and complicity regarding the injustice of slavery is “a call to vigilance,” the pope says. “What we have learned must be translated into discernment and responsibility in the present.”
‘A violent culture of power’
A large section of the pope’s letter is devoted to what he writes is, “a troubling revival of war as an instrument of international politics,” AI use in warfare, a crisis in multilateralism, and the erosion of ethical principles that used to limit war.
“Humanity is slipping into a violent culture of power,” he warns. “Today, more than ever, without prejudice to the right to self-defense in the strictest sense, it is important to reaffirm that the ‘just war’ theory which has all too often been used to justify any kind of war, is now outdated. Humanity possesses far more effective and capable tools for promoting human life and resolving conflicts, such as dialogue, diplomacy and forgiveness.”
“The modern Babel can be seen not only in the globalized technocratic paradigm, but also in the remote clash between opposing imperialisms, between powers that wish to preserve their supremacy, and those that aspire to seize that supremacy, resulting in a multiplicity of local conflicts. Moreover, there seems to be no limit to the race — driven by a dehumanizing ambition — to develop evermore powerful technologies or to secure control over them,” Pope Leo writes.
But the pontiff does not conclude on a negative note. He adds that, “despite this downward spiral, we can also glimpse a great part of humanity that is striving to remain human and working to build the holy city of coexistence and peace.”
Concluding the document, he expresses the hope that, “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.”
“Indeed, the Lord continues to make all things new and offers every era the possibility of becoming part of salvation history in the light of the Incarnation.”
