Leo’s first encyclical attacks technological messianism

Europe | Of God and ClaudeThe Pope warns against replacing humans with AI, though he seems to use it himself May 28th 2026|Rome|3 min readPope Leo’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, is very long (at more than 42,000 words, the length of a short novel). It tackles numerous issues, perhaps too many. The pontiff pleads for fact-checked journalism and multilateral diplomacy. He apologises for the papacy’s belated condemnation of slavery. He declares the concept of “just war”, most recently used by J.D. Vance, America’s vice-president, to justify the attack on Iran, “outdated”. The central purpose of the document, however, is to challenge the unregulated development of artificial intelligence.This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Of God and Claude”From the May 30th 2026 editionDiscover stories from this section and more in the list of contents⇒Explore the edition