The publication of Magnifica Humanitas, the maiden encyclical of Pope Leo XIV on 25 May, was an unapologetically political as well as theological act. Echoing his namesake Leo XIII, who in 1891 sought to reconcile the Church with industrialization through Rerum Novarum, the present pontiff places the artificial intelligence revolution squarely at the centre of moral debate. The encyclical breaks new ground by separating AI as a set of tools from what it calls the “technocratic paradigm” — the tendency to let efficiency, control and profit alone govern human decisions. As the Arab press noted, this conceptual move permits a nuanced stance: AI itself is not inherently evil, but its direction demands more than technical fixes or abstract ethics.

That distinction does not, however, diminish the severity of the warnings. Analysts in Latin America and Portugal highlighted the encyclical’s blunt military language: “No algorithm can make war morally acceptable,” it states, adding that AI “can only provoke conflicts more rapidly and make them more impersonal, lowering the threshold for violence and reducing victims to data.” A study by Kenneth Payne of King’s College London, cited by Brazilian media, found that in 95 per cent of simulated crises, AI escalated to nuclear warfare. The Pope underscores that the technology is never neutral — it reflects the values of those who build it and risks obliterating the dignity of those it affects.

Viewed from Madrid, the encyclical was simultaneously a theological document and a diplomatic missile. Spanish outlets reported that Leon XIV will take his message directly to the political stage by addressing a rare joint session of the country’s Congress, a move designed to resonate across the developed world’s corridors of power. Madrid’s government swiftly embraced the papal message, claiming to be “on the right side of history.” Meanwhile, financial commentators in Latin America stressed that the encyclical’s logic implicates the banking sector, where algorithmic decision-making can entrench inequality.

This deliberate fusion of moral authority and geopolitical engagement may reshape the public conversation on AI. Instead of being trapped between accelerationist promises of endless prosperity and catastrophic fears of mass unemployment, the debate now has a third term: a call to anchor technological change in concrete Catholic social principles — human dignity, the common good, and subsidiarity. The Church, as observers in Tokyo noted, is reprising its role as a global normative power, demanding that the architecture of the digital age be built not on the logic of conflict, but on a rigorous accountability to the human person.