Digital Theology: Pope Leo XIV Prepares Historic Encyclical on AI

The ethics of artificial intelligence are moving beyond secular jurisprudence. On May 16, 2026, the Vatican officially confirmed that Pope Leo XIV is working on a new encyclical entirely dedicated to algorithms and machine learning.

This is an unprecedented event for the Catholic Church. The document will touch upon critical themes: the alienation of labor due to automation, the protection of human rights in the face of algorithmic judges, and the moral boundaries of autonomous agents. While the European Union (with its AI Act) attempts to regulate the commercial side of the issue, the Vatican is claiming the role of a global moral arbiter. The Church recognizes that AI is transforming the very essence of human activity and seeks to embed Christian ethics into the architecture of the new digital world order before transnational IT corporations do so exclusively.

Source: Crux (AP) / UNN