VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV has issued a sweeping warning about the dangers posed by artificial intelligence, urging governments around the world to introduce strict international regulations capable of slowing unchecked AI development.
The warning formed the centrepiece of the pontiff’s first major encyclical, titled Magnifica Humanitas (“Magnificent Humanity”), unveiled at the Vatican on Monday.
Okay News reports that the nearly 43,000-word document raises concerns over misinformation, automation, surveillance, warfare, economic inequality, and the growing concentration of technological power in the hands of a few multinational corporations.
Pope Leo argued that artificial intelligence systems are increasingly being shaped by private actors with resources and influence exceeding those of many governments, creating what he described as unprecedented forms of opaque technological power.
“When such power is concentrated in the hands of a few, it tends to become opaque and evade public oversight,” the Pope wrote, warning that such developments risk fostering manipulation, exclusion, dependency, and widening inequality.
The pontiff stressed that calls for caution or slower AI adoption should not be interpreted as opposition to innovation, but rather as responsible stewardship aimed at protecting humanity.
According to the document, ethical discussions alone are insufficient without enforceable legal frameworks, independent oversight systems, informed users, and governments willing to actively regulate the technology sector.
Pope Leo also insisted that ownership and control of data linked to public goods and fundamental rights must not remain exclusively in private hands, arguing instead for stronger international regulation.
On warfare, the Pope warned that AI is fundamentally changing the nature of global conflict through cyberattacks, automated military systems, strategic disinformation campaigns, and algorithm-driven combat decisions.
He cautioned that artificial intelligence could lower the threshold for military aggression by distancing humans from the consequences of violence and reducing victims to statistics.
“It is not permissible to entrust lethal or otherwise irreversible decisions to artificial systems,” the encyclical stated, while calling for the strictest ethical limits on the military use of AI technologies.
The document further criticised the expansion of the global military-industrial complex, arguing that economic interests, arms markets, and political systems are increasingly intertwined in ways that normalise war and perpetual rearmament.
Beyond warfare, Pope Leo expressed alarm over the spread of misinformation and what he described as growing indifference to truth in democratic societies.
He warned that the erosion of factual consensus could gradually push societies toward authoritarianism and manipulation.
The Pope additionally raised concerns about the effects of AI-driven business models on children and families, saying parents alone cannot resist systems designed to monetise human attention and behaviour.
On labour and employment, the pontiff acknowledged that automation and robotics may improve productivity but warned that economic efficiency must not come at the expense of human dignity and mass job losses.
He called for stronger international cooperation to ensure AI development benefits vulnerable populations rather than deepening existing economic divides between nations.
