Pope Leo XIV reaffirmed human dignity and cautioned technological advances must serve the human good in his first encyclical letter released Monday, May 25.
The pope’s letter Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity): On Safeguarding the Human Person in The Time of Artificial Intelligence reflects upon human beings’ dignity as creatures made in the image and likeness of God – the Imago Dei – and how to safeguard the family, human labor, media communications and peace in our time of rapid technological innovation.
The pope signed and approved the encyclical letter on the 135th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s landmark encyclical Rerum Novarum, which defended the rights of the family and human labor, and condemned socialism, during a time of rapid societal change resulting from the Industrial Revolution.
The Family
Pope Leo highlighted the family as “a primary social good” and reiterated the Catholic Church’s teaching that marriage is between one man and one woman.
“Founded on the enduring union between a man and a woman, [the family] is the first environment in which all persons develop their potential, become aware of their dignity and learn the earliest forms of truth and goodness, internalizing the habits that prepare them for life in society,” he wrote.
“As the first natural society, endowed with foundational rights, the family is the fundamental and irreplaceable cell of every community organization.”
He also reiterated the Church’s teaching that each person has a fundamental right to life “from conception to its natural end, without which it is impossible to exercise any other right.”
“When this fundamental right is denied — as in the cases of induced abortion, killing of the innocent and euthanasia — we are faced with choices that the Church considers gravely wrong.”
A Fundamental Choice
Pope Leo XIV likened our time to that found in Genesis 11, when human beings worked to build a Tower of Babel apart from God’s will.
“Humanity, created by God in all its grandeur, is today facing a pivotal choice: either to construct a new Tower of Babel or to build the city in which God and humanity dwell together,” the pope began.
Human beings face a choice to safeguard the “dignity of every person” and build a world where “justice is promoted and fraternity is made possible,” or to create “an inhumane and more unjust world” in which humanity “marr[s] its true identity.”
While technological advancement has “significantly improved the living conditions of humanity,” “each phase of progress has also revealed the ambiguity of tools that can cause harm when not oriented toward the good.”
The Imago Dei
Pope Leo reaffirmed the distinctly Christian teaching upholding the dignity and value of each human being because of their identity as persons made in the Imago Dei.
“At the heart of the Christian understanding of the human person lies the great biblical affirmation that men and women are created in the image and likeness of the Triune God,” the pope wrote.
“Created for relationship, every human person is planned and willed by God to enter into communion with him, with others and with creation.”
Pope Leo added that human dignity “does not depend on a person’s abilities, wealth or position in life, nor on the right or wrong choices made; instead, it is a gift that precedes and transcends each person, endowed by God as an expression of his unfailing love.”
Safeguarding Human Dignity
Having considered humanity’s special dignity as the Imago Dei, Pope Leo focused on several technological challenges facing our world today.
“As technological development rapidly transforms languages, relationships, institutions and forms of power, we believers must and can choose which projects to work on and in what manner, so as to safeguard and value the grandeur of humanity that has been given to us as a gift,” the pope wrote.
Technological Progress
Pope Leo cautioned that while technological innovation – including the expansion of AI, cognitive science, nanotechnology, robots and biotechnology – can serve humanity’s good, it must also be accompanied by social and moral progress so that it is used for good – not evil.
“These innovations can greatly serve integral human development and the care of our common home,” the pope advised. “Yet precisely because of their power, they can also hasten the expansion of the technocratic paradigm and therefore require a new spiritual, ethical and political framework.”
“More power does not necessarily imply something better,” he added. “Technological progress — valuable in itself — requires careful discernment of the anthropological vision that guides it and the ends it pursues.”
Artificial Intelligence
Pope Leo advised that AI can be a “valuable tool” if used well, though it can also cause myriad harms.
While AI can “make life easier” by rapidly providing complex analysis, media content and information, it can also “encourage excessive reliance and the search for ready-made answers, and weaken personal creativity and judgment.”
AI can provide the “artificial imitation of human connection – words of advice, empathy, friendship and even love.” But it can also “be misleading, creating the illusion of a relationship with a real personal subject.”
“When words are simulated, they do not build genuine relationships, but only their appearance,” the pope cautioned.
Transhumanism
Pope Leo also addressed transhumanism, in which human beings are “enhanced” through technologies to increase performance and capabilities.
“If the human being is treated as something to be perfected or surpassed, it becomes easier to accept that some lives are less useful, less desirable or less worthy,” the pope forewarned.
“It is one thing to integrate technology within a human-centered, relational vision; it is quite another to be guided by an outlook that devalues human limits and promises a purely technical form of ‘salvation.’”
Social Media
Furthermore, Pope Leo cautioned against providing digital devices to children at a young age.
“Early and unsupervised exposure to digital devices and social media can negatively impact sleep, attention span, control of emotions and relationships, especially during the most vulnerable stages of life, at times with tragic consequences,” Pope Leo wrote.
“Having a personal mobile device at too early an age and using it without adult supervision can exacerbate young people’s vulnerabilities, foster addiction and expose them to isolation, bullying and cyberbullying, as well as to pressures to share intimate images or sensitive information.”
Pope Leo said it is very difficult for parents to “resist the influence of business models that monetize attention and time.” Therefore, public policy is needed for “setting age limits, holding service providers accountable … and providing protections against all forms of online sexual exploitation and violence.”
Conclusion
When Robert Prevost was elected pope on May 8, 2025, he chose the papal name Leo XIV primarily because he wanted to continue Leo XIII’s work responding to the Industrial Revolution. Pope Leo XIV said he would respond to “another industrial revolution and … developments in the field of artificial intelligence.”
Now that the pope’s long-awaited encyclical on AI has been issued, it remains to be seen how many of his warnings will be heeded or ignored by the wider world.
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Getting a Handle on Your Screen Time
How Your Family Can Manage Technology Well
Helping Our Kids Manage Technology Well
A Parent’s Guide to Today’s Technology
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