Speaking on his first “social”
encyclical, Pope Leo said the Roman Catholic Church, whose membership stood at
1.6 billion embodied souls around the world, was “called to interpret ‘new things’
of the age in the light of the Gospel and the dignity of the human person.”[1]
He was on terre firma from a distinctly religious standpoint in being
anchored in the Gospel stories, which include direct and parabolic preachments
by Jesus of Nazareth. Regarding the dignity of the human person, which pertains
as much to a humanist as a theist, that basis is not distinctly religious and
thus can occasion or permit wandering into other domains such that virtually
any topic relevant to mankind could be roped in and even subjected to
supervening religious criteria even over criteria native to the topic’s own
domain!
The full essay is at "Pope Leo on the Ethical Dangers of AI."
1, Linda Bordoni, “Pope Leo Presents ‘Magnifica Humanitas’ Calling for Disarmament of AI,” Vatican News, 25 May, 2026.