{"id":475773,"date":"2026-05-31T06:32:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T06:32:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/475773\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T06:32:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T06:32:47","slug":"pope-leos-encyclical-on-ai-is-a-striking-manifesto-of-christian-humanism-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/475773\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo\u2019s encyclical on AI is a striking manifesto of Christian humanism \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

When drawing up a list of people to consult on technological developments, the Bishop of Rome would not be near the top of many people\u2019s rankings. But this week, Pope Leo XIV<\/a> published a 42,000-word teaching on the ethical and political implications of the growing power of artificial intelligence (AI)<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The document, Magnifica Humanitas (\u2018The Grandeur of Humanity\u2019), doesn\u2019t issue flat direction one way or the other on how to respond to AI, but frames a series of conversations about what it might mean to safeguard the best parts of being human in the time of AI. <\/p>\n

When he took on the name Leo, the pope was signalling his intentions to follow in the footsteps of the last pope to carry that name. Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903) is remembered for instituting what has come to be known as the Catholic social tradition. <\/p>\n

In 1891 he published a papal encyclical \u2013 the formal title for an authoritative teaching that takes the form of a letter \u2013 called Rerum Novarum (\u2018Of New Things\u2019) which addressed the plight of workers in the industrial age, specifically \u201cthe enormous fortunes of some few individuals, and the utter poverty of the masses\u201d. <\/p>\n

Rerum Novarum critiqued both laissez-faire capitalism and centralised socialism, arguing instead that societies should forge an alternative path grounded in a recognition of the dignity of labour, the provision of living wages, and the mutual responsibility that binds all of a community together, whether owners or workers. <\/p>\n

Subsequent popes followed with similar teachings, addressing critically important topics of their time, ranging from peacemaking to environmental care. <\/p>\n

This tradition is often described as Catholicism\u2019s \u201cbest kept secret\u201d because of how it represents a quite unique body of rich ethical reflection on complex political, social and economic issues but is often overlooked by the faithful, never mind wider society. <\/p>\n

Thus, even if it came as a surprise to many that the pope would intervene on a topic like AI, it is fully consistent with one of the most interesting seams in the life of the Catholic Church<\/a> and it echoes the concern for worker justice that the earlier Leo demonstrated. <\/p>\n

Magnifica Humanitas is not an anti-technological rant but a balanced and carefully researched analysis of the ubiquitous presence of algorithmic reasoning in our lives. <\/p>\n

The document is filled with interesting angles on the questions these technologies press on us<\/p>\n

Pope Leo XIV insists we reject the tempting framing of these technologies as \u201cneutral\u201d, where each individual would just decide for themselves what appropriate use could mean. <\/p>\n

Instead, he asks us to consider the long chain of economic action, stretching from the miners responsible for digging out rare earth minerals, passing through the millions of people employed to tag, prepare and curate the data that is fed into AI models. <\/p>\n

Ultimately, we also have to consider ourselves, the end user, whose own experience of learning is altered by the appearance of rapidity and certainty that these machines provide. <\/p>\n

The pope places two scriptural texts at the heart of his discussion. Humanity is bound to keep building on these technical developments, so the question is: how will we proceed? <\/p>\n

We can follow the path of the architects of the Tower of Babel who concentrated power in a top-down, homogenising fashion, or we can replicate the craft-focused wisdom of Nehemiah, who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem with a collective effort that included and valued everyone\u2019s contribution.<\/p>\n

It is clear that he does not deny there are great benefits that will accrue from these technologies, but he is also unflinching in describing the risks. If we continue to allow the evolution of these systems to be subject to light-touch regulation, the sheer amount of data that will be accumulated in the hands of a small number of private corporations will transform public space. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Ireland\u2019s great AI job displacement: \u2018Every employer, every worker should be talking about this\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The warning is stark: if we miss this moment to develop appropriate social norms, cultural responses, institutional safeguards and political frameworks, \u201cthe digital age will not be postcolonial, but colonial in another form\u201d.<\/p>\n

The document is filled with interesting angles on the questions these technologies press on us, from the meaning of work and the risk of mass unemployment to the devastating threat of automated war machines and the ecological demands of data centres<\/a>. <\/p>\n

It contains a remarkable passage where Leo acknowledges the role of previous popes in the emergence of the Atlantic slave trade, followed by a full repentance. But taken as a whole it is a striking manifesto of Christian humanism. <\/p>\n

The skill of programmers, engineers and mathematicians who have built these models is honoured. And yet, the message is clear that the innovations they have forged must be put to the service of people \u2013 especially the vulnerable. <\/p>\n

For those who seek a more critical and careful response to the widespread boosterism around these technologies, a new leader has emerged. He might not be the one they expected, but in charting a course through the digital wilderness, he may have just provided the world with its most human map yet.<\/p>\n

Kevin Hargaden is the social theologian at the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice. He is also a computer scientist. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When drawing up a list of people to consult on technological developments, the Bishop of Rome would not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[220,218,219,12780,5691,61,60,6318,145668,80],"class_list":["post-475773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-catholic-church","tag-data-centres","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-pope-leo-xiv","tag-religion-beliefs","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}