TL;DR
Pope Leo XIV released Magnifica Humanitas on May 25, 2026, making artificial intelligence the subject of his first encyclical. The Vatican listed Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah among the presenters, while OpenAI, Google DeepMind and xAI had no named speaker role, making the launch optics part of the story.
Pope Leo XIV released and personally presented his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, on May 25, 2026, placing artificial intelligence at the center of Catholic social teaching while the Vatican’s published presentation lineup included Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah and did not list representatives from OpenAI, Google DeepMind or xAI.
The encyclical, signed May 15 and released May 25, is titled Magnifica Humanitas: On safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence. It argues that technology is shaped by the people and institutions that design, fund, regulate and use it, and warns against AI power being held by a small number of companies, states or technical elites.
The Vatican’s announcement named Leo XIV, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, Cardinal Michael Czerny, theologian Anna Rowlands, Anthropic’s Christopher Olah and Professor Leocadie Lushombo among the speakers. The public list did not name speakers from OpenAI, Google DeepMind or xAI. Anthropic later published Olah’s remarks on the encyclical.
The document runs through doctrine, human dignity, concentration of power, work, truth, surveillance and war. The guest list adds a second issue: a text warning against morality set by a few was launched with one frontier AI lab represented in public, while other major labs most associated with AI scale, defense partnerships or geopolitical claims had no listed role.
Technology is never neutral — and neither were the empty chairs
Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical casts AI as this century’s Rerum novarum moment. He presented it personally — with Anthropic’s co-founder in the room. OpenAI, Google DeepMind & xAI were not. For a “broadside against AI companies,” that guest list is itself an argument.
A Rerum novarum for the age of AI
The signing date wasn’t incidental. Leo XIV chose the 135th anniversary of Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical — and, by taking the Leonine name, cast himself as the pope who answers AI as Leo XIII answered industry.
The same move, 135 years apart
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Five chapters, one worry: concentration
The recurring anxiety is that AI’s power lands “in the hands of only a few” — and that a more moral AI isn’t enough “if that morality is determined by a few.”
A dynamic doctrine, faithful to the Gospel
Situating AI in the Church’s social teaching — the living tradition from Rerum novarum onward.
Foundations & principles
Human dignity that is “neither acquired nor earned”; the common good; the universal destination of goods — tech must not be held by a few.
Technology & dominance
The “technocratic paradigm.” AI can simulate a person but has no moral conscience or empathy. Calls to “disarm” AI from the logic of competition.
Safeguarding humanity: truth, work, freedom
The “new ways” of working aren’t always better; AI too often makes workers adapt to machines. Warns of an “architecture of visibility.”
The culture of power & the civilization of love
The hardest charge: “no algorithm can make war morally acceptable.” Argues even “just war” theory must now be overcome.
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Who was in the room — and who should have been
Leo XIV presented the encyclical personally (popes usually delegate). Among the AI experts: Anthropic’s Chris Olah. The other frontier labs? Empty chairs. Tap each seat.
The presentation · May 25, 2026
A defensible single invite — or a diluted broadside? Press play, then judge.
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A broadside delivered to one delegate
The Washington Post read the encyclical as one that “fires a broadside against AI companies.” A reckoning aimed at an industry is weakened when one member — the most safety-branded one — is present to receive it.
The encyclical’s hardest charge is about AI and war — and it implicates the labs that weren’t there.
Its most uncompromising passages condemn AI-enabled weapons and the lowering of the threshold for violence. But that lands hardest on the defense-entangled players and the leaders most explicit about military & geopolitical ambitions — not the lab that showed up.
Account vs. anoint
One sympathetic guest tilts it from “the Church holding the industry to account” toward “the Church beside its preferred firm.”
Concentration, again
A text whose deepest fear is power “determined by a few” launched by elevating one company as chosen interlocutor.
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Two things are true at once
The criticism is of the exclusivity, not the inclusion. Olah in the room was fitting; Anthropic alone was incomplete.
The most significant AI reckoning yet by a global moral institution
It grounds a critique of concentration, dehumanized work & algorithmic warfare in a tradition stretching back to 1891. Its core insight — technology carries its makers’ values — is exactly the right place to start.
A broadside should be delivered to the industry, not its most palatable face
The choice to present alongside Anthropic alone — defensible, probably well-intentioned — undercut the encyclical’s own insight about whose values get associated with the message.
A beginning, not an endpoint
The same month, Leo XIV approved an Interdicasterial Commission on Artificial Intelligence — a standing body with room for many voices over time. If it brings the whole industry into uncomfortable dialogue, the narrow first launch reads as a first step, not a pattern.
Why It Matters
The encyclical matters because it moves AI from a policy and business debate into one of the world’s most influential moral institutions. Catholic social teaching has long shaped public arguments on labor, poverty, peace and human dignity; Leo XIV is now applying that tradition to model development, automation, data power and AI-enabled weapons.
The launch optics matter for the same reason. If technology reflects the character of those who build and finance it, then the choice of which builders appear beside the Church is also a public signal. That reading is interpretation, not a confirmed Vatican explanation, but it follows directly from the encyclical’s own claim that technology is never detached from power.
Background
Leo signed the encyclical on May 15, 2026, the 135th anniversary of Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum, the 1891 labor encyclical that responded to industrial capitalism. By choosing the date and the name Leo, the new pope framed AI as a social and economic rupture comparable to the factory age.
AP reported before the release that the pope’s presence at the launch was unusual because encyclical presentations are normally handled by Vatican officials and invited experts. The Washington Post described the text as a major intervention in AI ethics, aimed at making AI ease inequality rather than deepen it.
“Technology is “never neutral, because it takes on the characteristics of those who devise, finance, regulate, and use it.””
— Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas
“”a more moral AI is not enough if that morality is determined by a few””
— Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas
“”no algorithm can make war morally acceptable””
— Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas
What Remains Unclear
It is not yet clear from the reviewed material whether OpenAI, Google DeepMind or xAI were invited, declined, attended without a public role, or were excluded. The Vatican’s public list confirms who was scheduled to speak, not the full invitation history. It is also unclear how much the encyclical will affect lawmaking, procurement rules, company policy or military AI contracts.
What’s Next
The next phase is reception. Governments, Catholic universities, dioceses, AI companies and policy groups will parse the encyclical’s calls for shared standards, limits on AI use in war and protection of workers. Watch for Vatican follow-up events, public responses from absent labs, and whether Catholic institutions use the text in education, procurement and advocacy.
Key Questions
What happened on May 25, 2026?
Pope Leo XIV released and personally presented Magnifica Humanitas, his first encyclical, focused on safeguarding human dignity in the age of artificial intelligence.
Was Anthropic the only AI company represented?
The Vatican’s public speaker list named Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah. The reviewed material does not confirm a listed role for OpenAI, Google DeepMind or xAI.
What does the encyclical say about AI?
It says AI and related technologies are not neutral tools. The document warns about concentrated power, pressure on workers, loss of truth, surveillance and AI-enabled warfare.
Why are the absent labs part of the story?
The encyclical argues that technology takes on the character of those who build, fund and regulate it. That makes the Vatican’s public choice of interlocutors relevant, especially when other major AI labs had no named role.
What remains unknown?
The public record reviewed here does not show whether OpenAI, Google DeepMind or xAI were invited, declined or had private contact with the Vatican about the encyclical.
Source: Thorsten Meyer AI
