Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, is being read by policy and financial circles as a tech-regulation document as much as a theological one. It directly addresses governments and major AI companies, framing AI as the current generation's industrial revolution and warning of power concentration, erosion of human agency, and threats to democratic discourse. Leo calls for enforceable legal frameworks, independent oversight, and the removal of AI from purely military and economic interests. The document was released alongside a public conversation with Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah, signaling alignment with the external-oversight wing of AI policy. While papal documents carry no legal force outside the Church, the Vatican's diplomatic reach into regions not covered by the EU AI Act gives the encyclical potential policy influence. The Vatican is expected to translate these positions into specific stances at UN General Assembly AI discussions in September.
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