Pope Leo XIV will formally launch his first encyclical on artificial intelligence on May 25 at a ceremony in the main Vatican auditorium, alongside Christopher Olah, co-founder of AI safety company Anthropic, the Vatican announced Monday.
The document, titled Magnifica Humanitas, or Magnificent Humanity, focuses on the care of human dignity in the era of AI. Leo signed it on May 15, which was 135 years to the day after his namesake, Pope Leo XIII, signed Rerum Novarum, the encyclical that addressed workers' rights and the limits of capitalism during the Industrial Revolution. The current pope has already cited that document in relation to the AI revolution, which he has said raises the same existential questions that industrialization did over a century ago.
The choice of Olah as a lay presenter at the launch is significant, according to ABC News. Anthropic has built its public identity around AI safety and risk mitigation. In February, the Trump administration ordered all U.S. agencies to stop using Anthropic's technology and imposed other major penalties after the company refused to allow the U.S. military unrestricted use of its AI. Anthropic is currently suing the administration, which it has accused of retaliating against it illegally.
Leo has made AI a central focus of his early pontificate and has specifically expressed concern about the technology's use in warfare.
The formal launch will be more prominent than such presentations typically are. Usually, Vatican encyclicals are introduced in a press room setting with a small number of officials. This time, the event will take place in the main Vatican auditorium. Two senior cardinals will serve as lead presenters: Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the Vatican's doctrine chief, and Cardinal Michael Czerny, its development chief. Theologians Anna Rowlands and Leocadie Lushombo will also speak.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, will offer closing remarks. Leo himself will give a speech and deliver a final blessing, a level of direct papal involvement that is itself unusual for an encyclical launch.
Anthropic's chief executive Dario Amodei previously worked at OpenAI before he and a group of colleagues left in 2021 to found Anthropic, parting ways with OpenAI chief Sam Altman. The encyclical is expected to place AI within the broader context of Catholic social teaching, which covers labor, justice, and peace.
The May 25 event at the Vatican will mark the first time a major AI company has been formally represented at the launch of a papal teaching document.
