Magnifica Humanitas: The Pope Writes Like the Machine He Fears On 15 May 2026, Pope Leo XIV released Magnifica Humanitas, an encyclical letter "On Safeguarding
Pope Leo XIV released an encyclical titled "Magnifica Humanitas" addressing the ethical implications of artificial intelligence. The document, presented as a successor to a 19th-century labor encyclical, frames the choice for humanity as between the "Tower of Babel" (representing dehumanization and dominance) and the rebuilding of "Jerusalem" (symbolizing communion and shared responsibility). However, the author critiques the encyclical, arguing that its own structure and rhetorical approach, particularly its reliance on a single biblical metaphor, inadvertently mirrors the reductive tendencies it condemns in AI and Silicon Valley. AI
IMPACT Critiques the framing and potential self-contradictions in high-level AI policy documents.