VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV released his encyclical letter 'Magnifica Humanitas' on May 25, 2026. The document updates Catholic social teaching for the age of artificial intelligence by drawing on biblical metaphors and historical precedent.

Robert Francis Prevost, the first pope from the United States, took the papal name Leo XIV. Since the beginning of his papacy, he has repeatedly invoked Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical 'Rerum Novarum,' which denounced the excesses of the Gilded Age and advocated for workers’ rights. Leo XIII rejected both unfettered capitalism and revolutionary socialism, asserting the rights of industrial workers to organize and invoking medieval guilds as a model. He also argued that governments should 'induce as many as possible of the people to become owners.'

In 'Magnifica Humanitas,' Pope Leo XIV presents a new 'Rerum Novarum' for the age of artificial intelligence. He uses the biblical stories of the Tower of Babel and the rebuilding of Jerusalem under Nehemiah as guiding metaphors. He describes the Tower of Babel as a city 'built on pride and the claim to self-sufficiency.' By contrast, he highlights Nehemiah’s model of shared responsibility and collaboration in restoring Jerusalem.

Pope Leo XIV warns that the current AI industry is in danger of becoming a new Tower of Babel. He cautions that a few companies control powerful AI technology poised to transform work, politics, and society. He also expresses concern that some AI leaders embrace ideologies proposing to trade human limits for the godlike powers of machines, and that some proponents envision a world where human labor is no longer central to the economy. Additionally, he warns that human choice is becoming more removed from the execution of war. In response, Pope Leo XIV calls on people everywhere to adopt 'the pressing duty to remain profoundly human.' He urges individuals not to be 'spectators' or 'commentators' but to take an active role in 'the construction sites of history.'