Pope Leo said that artificial intelligence represents the biggest threat to humanity during the presentation of his first encyclical in Vatican City.
This declaration signals a significant shift in the Catholic Church's approach to emerging technology, framing AI not as a tool for progress but as an existential danger that requires immediate global intervention to protect human dignity.
The encyclical, titled Magnifica Humanitas, was presented May 25, 2026 [1]. In the document, the Pontiff said that the rapid development of AI poses a risk so severe that the technology must be regulated or effectively "disarmed" [2]. He said that without strict controls, the trajectory of AI could lead to a form of modern slavery or the erosion of what makes humans unique [3].
To illustrate the danger of uncontrolled power, Pope Leo quoted a line from the character Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings [4]. The use of popular culture in a formal papal document is a rare occurrence, highlighting the urgency the Pope feels regarding the digital age — a move that some observers describe as a break from tradition [5].
The Vatican's call for regulation focuses on the belief that AI threatens the core of human existence [2]. The Pope said that the preservation of human dignity must take precedence over technological acceleration. He urged world leaders to treat AI with the same caution applied to the world's most dangerous weapons [3].
While the Church has previously engaged with tech ethics, Magnifica Humanitas takes a more confrontational stance. By calling for the "disarming" of AI, the Pontiff is advocating for a level of oversight that exceeds current legislative efforts in the U.S. and Europe [3]. The encyclical serves as a formal plea to the international community to prioritize ethics over efficiency in the race for artificial general intelligence [6].
“Artificial intelligence is the biggest threat to humanity.”
By framing AI as an existential threat requiring 'disarming,' the Vatican is moving beyond ethical guidelines into the realm of geopolitical security. This positions the Catholic Church as a moral counterweight to the tech industry, potentially influencing policy in Catholic-majority nations and adding religious weight to the growing global movement for AI safety and regulation.
