Pope Leo XIV will personally present his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, at the Vatican’s Synod Hall on 25 May. The document takes as its subject the protection of human dignity in the age of artificial intelligence, and its publication has been anticipated well beyond Catholic circles.
The timing of the Pope’s signature is worth noting. Leo signed the document on 15 May, the 135th anniversary of Rerum Novarum, the 1891 encyclical in which Pope Leo XIII responded to the upheaval of the Industrial Revolution with a sustained argument for workers’ rights, the dignity of labour, and the limits of what economic systems could legitimately demand of human beings. Rerum Novarum became the foundation of modern Catholic social teaching. By signing Magnifica Humanitas on that anniversary, the current Pope is making the parallel visible: artificial intelligence is reshaping work, concentrating power, and raising questions about human dignity that are as urgent now as anything the industrial age produced, and the Church intends to address them with the same seriousness.
The encyclical is expected to condemn the use of AI in warfare and to address its consequences for workers and working conditions. Leo has returned to both themes repeatedly in his first year. Speaking at Rome’s La Sapienza University earlier this month, he described AI-directed warfare as leading toward a spiral of annihilation, and criticised governments for expanding military budgets while reducing investment in education and healthcare.
Breaking with precedent, the Pope will speak at the presentation of the document himself, alongside senior Vatican officials, theologians, and a co-founder of Anthropic, one of the world’s leading AI research companies. The presence of a machine learning researcher at the launch of a papal encyclical is unusual by any measure, and reflects the document’s ambition: to contribute to a conversation that extends well beyond the Church’s own membership.
For OLA Ireland, these questions are already part of daily work. Michelle Robertson, our communications officer, has spent several years developing practical AI literacy programmes for religious congregations and vocations bodies, delivering training for CWR Ireland (Communications for Women Religious), Vocations Ireland, and the National Religious Vocation Conference in the United States. She has also designed and led a digital communications mentorship programme for OLA sisters internationally. That work sits directly alongside the concerns the encyclical will address: what it means to use these tools thoughtfully within communities formed by particular values, what they cannot be asked to replace, and how religious life engages technology on its own terms rather than simply absorbing it.
The encyclical’s title, Magnifica Humanitas, translates as “Magnificent Humanity.” The full text will be released on 25 May. See the announcement here: Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical Magnifica humanitas to be published May 25