If we believe that human dignity for all is the greatest common good, then how shall we guide the development of technologies that may ignore or discard that dignity?

This is the question that forms the foundation of Magnifica Humanitas (“Magnificent Humanity”), the first encyclical from Pope Leo XIV. Signed on 15 May 2026 and officially released on 25 May 2026, the document is not just an “Encyclical on AI”, but an application of the sum of Catholic Social Doctrine to the challenges of today’s technological advancements.

The Encyclical starts with what is, for today’s society, a bold statement: there is an important, beautiful... PRICELESS dignity within the human person. Each generation chooses either to shape its age to become a place where that dignity is preserved and nurtured, OR it sets itself to build the next Tower of Babel – eschewing dignity in favour of constructing a world that sees humans as disposable commodities.

The choice between these two standards runs the length of the Encyclical as Pope Leo moves through the Social Doctrine of the Church: from Rerum Novarum through the Second Vatican Council, right up to Laudato si’ and Fratelli tutti. From each document the Holy Father teases out the long-held Church tradition of recognizing inviolable, inalienable human dignity: the need for being in RELATIONSHIP with others, the intrinsic value of work and human creativity, AND – importantly – the fact that “growth” or “development” cannot be reduced to material/financial/economic gain alone, but rather must involve the whole man and every man.

While making it clear that faith is NOT in opposition to technology, Pope Leo calls out the need to guide that technology towards the common good. While the Holy Father takes care to detail the dangers of AI in everything from journalism to war, he also stresses how the technology can connect rather than divide, teach rather than misinform, and enhance human dignity rather than commoditize human labour.

The speakers’ remarks at the release event in the Vatican made it clear that this Encyclical is the starting point of a continuing discussion. It calls for more transparency into the development of the technology and implicitly missions a pastoral response that teaches critical reasoning skills that will be essential in a world filled with AI-generated misinformation.

In the words of the Holy Father, “I entrust our desire to the Mother of Christ, to the Woman of the Magnificat, that she may guide our steps through this time of change and preserve in each of us true faith in the Gospel, so that we may bear witness to the grandeur of humanity, in which God has made his dwelling.” (Magnifica Humanitas 245)