Pope Leo’s AI Agenda: Applying Catholic Wisdom to Technology’s Profound Challenges

In one of his first addresses to the College of Cardinals that elected him, Pope Leo XIV explained that he chose the regnal name “Leo” as a nod to Leo XIII, who governed at the turn of the 20th century. Leo XIII kicked off the modern era of Catholic social teaching with the 1891 document Rerum Novarum, one of the first Catholic “social” encyclicals that dealt with the tremendous moral, political, economic, and human challenges posed by the Industrial Revolution and the rise of socialism.

Leo XIV views the current challenges posed by AI as analogous to those his predecessor faced 134 years ago. “In our own day,” our new Pope declared in one of his first public addresses, “the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defence of human dignity, justice and labour.”

JG

About the Author

John Gerardi

John Gerardi is the executive director of Right to Life of Central California in Fresno. A lawyer and the founding CEO and current development director of the Obria Medical Clinics of Central California, he hosts the radio shows and podcasts The John Gerardi Show and Right to Life Radio.

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Pope Leo XIV

In one of his first addresses to the College of Cardinals that elected him, Pope Leo XIV explained that he chose the regnal name “Leo” as a nod to Leo XIII, who governed at the turn of the 20th century. Leo XIII kicked off the modern era of Catholic social teaching with the 1891 document Rerum Novarum, one of the first Catholic “social” encyclicals that dealt with the tremendous moral, political, economic, and human challenges posed by the Industrial Revolution and the rise of socialism.

Leo XIV views the current challenges posed by AI as analogous to those his predecessor faced 134 years ago. “In our own day,” our new Pope declared in one of his first public addresses, “the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defence of human dignity, justice and labour.”