On 15 May 2026, Pope Leo XIV published Magnifica Humanitas - the first encyclical in the history of the Church dedicated to artificial intelligence.
It is not a document of condemnation. It is not a warning cry. It is something simpler - and perhaps for that very reason more useful: a reminder not to lose sight of the obvious.
The obvious we forget
In the world of AI, there is a great deal of talk about benchmarks, parameters, funding rounds and AGI. There is very little talk about the real people these systems touch every day: the worker whose role is automated without anyone having thought about what they will do next, the citizen profiled by an algorithm they cannot understand, the country that lacks the resources to join the race and is left on the margins.
Leo XIV does not introduce new concepts. He recalls things we already know, but that in the frantic pace of the tech industry we tend to set aside.
That technology is not neutral - it takes on the face of those who design it, finance it and use it.
That progress that leaves someone behind is not progress.
That an automated decision still has consequences for a real person, and someone must answer for it.
These are obvious things. And yet it is surprising how rarely they are said out loud, with this clarity, in a public debate.
The Tower of Babel and the sense of direction
The encyclical uses two biblical images to frame the challenge. The Tower of Babel - built with a single language, a single direction, without asking why - and the walls of Jerusalem rebuilt by Nehemiah, restored section by section by different people, with a shared and human goal.
It is not a metaphor against technology. It is a question about direction: are we building something to serve people, or are we building for the sake of building?
In an industry where speed is often a value in itself, it is a question worth stopping to ask.
Why read it
Magnifica Humanitas is not only a document for believers.
It is a document for anyone who works with AI - whether they build it, finance it, sell it or simply use it every day. Because every now and then it is necessary for an authoritative voice, outside the industry bubble, to say the simple things that are hard to hear from inside it.
People come before systems. Numbers serve people, not the other way around. Speed without direction leads nowhere.
This is not only theology. It is common sense. And the fact that it takes a papal encyclical to remind us of it says something about how often we forget.
Magnifica Humanitas is available in full on the Holy See’s website.