New Things, New Questions: Pope Leo XIV and the AI Revolution
Part Four: AI and the quest for human dignity

Matthew Neugebauer

Tuesday, September 2, 2025

Photo of a small green leafy plant in soil, with a pair of hands holding up the bit of soil around the plant. Various digital icons suggesting metrics are surrounding the plant.

New Things, New Questions: Pope Leo XIV and the AI Revolution

Part Four: AI and the quest for human dignity

We’re gaining more consistent experience using and understanding artificial intelligence technology. As it becomes a bigger part of our everyday lives, Pope Leo XIV’s Magisterium will likely make a clearer statement about what a “Catholic AI ethics” looks like. As I stated in Part One of this series, he may well chart a more moderate course that encourages researchers and programmers to explore the potential of AI for the promotion of human dignity, while also continuing Francis’ role as a sentinel against its threats to life and dignity. This maps closely to Leo XIII’s authoritative pronouncement in Rerum Novarum, which also affirmed the benefits of industrial and economic innovations while urgently calling on governments, corporations, and society as a whole to extinguish the dehumanizing conditions that, when unchecked, these innovations can create (#1, 3).

Artificial intelligence and other digital technologies are here to stay, so I think Church leaders might as well explore the good that can come of them even as they resist the bad. This was the approach taken by Towards Full Presence, a 2023 “Pastoral Reflection” from the Dicastery for Communication. It cautiously embraced the way social media and smartphone use are so thoroughly integrated into the personal relationships, intellectual formation, and sense of self for many people across the world today, especially youth. At the same time, it raised the dangers of physical isolation, influencer popularity, political polarization, and other mental health effects.

In his recent Message to the Second Annual Conference on AI, Pope Leo highlighted the importance of guiding young people “in their journey towards maturity and true responsibility,” since “society’s well-being depends upon their being given the ability to develop their God-given gifts and capabilities, and to respond to the demands of the times and the needs of others with a free and generous spirit.” I think the “demands of the time” involve nuanced discernment that evaluates the possibilities of AI on a case-by-case basis rather than dismisses it wholesale.

The recent dicastery-level document Antiqua et Nova is the best place to start. It largely focuses on the need to put human choice and intelligence at the centre whenever we use or develop artificial intelligence technologies, since human intelligence is our capacity to understand and relate to God, to the world, our neighbours, and ourselves (#13-29). Putting human intelligence and therefore human relationships at the centre is the primary way that we put human dignity at the centre. As I recalled in Part Three, the Compendium of the Social Doctrine Of The Church affirms that, “Discovering that they are loved by God, people come to understand their own transcendent dignity, they learn … to encounter their neighbour in a network of relationships that are ever more authentically human" (#4, emphasis added). Antiqua et Nova therefore strongly emphasizes caution with AI throughout the document, especially given that we might get too much in the habit of relying on these technologies.

Nevertheless, it also suggests how AI can be very helpful for the technical work involved in promoting human dignity, assisting human intelligence, and caring for our planet, especially in the following areas:

“Economy and labour” (#64-70): AI can streamline productivity and workflows so that “workers [can] focus on more innovative tasks and open new horizons for creativity and innovation.” The expansion of the tech sector might even lead to more employment opportunities (#66).

“Society” (#50-55): “AI could also help organizations identify those in need and counter discrimination and marginalization” (#51).

“Healthcare” (#71-76): “AI seems to hold immense potential” to help doctors diagnose patients and nurses care for them more efficiently, for research and development in medical innovation, and to “[expand] access to quality care also for those who are isolated or marginalized” (#72).

“Education” (#77-84): “AI can become a valuable educational resource by enhancing access to education, offering tailored support, and providing immediate feedback to students.” That is, as long as it’s used as part of the real pedagogical relationship between teacher and student, and as a way to support the formation of well-rounded and informed people (#80).

“The Protection of Our Common Home” (#95-97) has the most extensive and specific examples: “AI has many promising applications… such as creating models to forecast extreme climate events, proposing engineering solutions to reduce their impact, managing relief operations, and predicting population shifts. Additionally, AI can support sustainable agriculture, optimize energy usage, and provide early warning systems for public health emergencies” (#95)

If AI can help us do these things more efficiently, then those benefits to our dignity are worth exploring.

One of the highest-profile examples of the Church embracing the power of AI was for the sake of education as well as spiritual and literal edification: last year’s St. Peter’s Basilica project. This partnership between the Vatican City State and Microsoft emerged from the same conversations that developed and continue to promote the Rome Call on AI ethics. Project members ran over 400,000 new photos of St. Peter’s through an AI algorithm, which created a “digital twin” of the basilica. That digital twin enabled those tasked with the repair and upkeep of the basilica to see faults in the building or defects in paintings that would otherwise not be visible with the naked eye. The model is also available online, allowing anyone on the internet to take a virtual “tour.” That isn’t the same as visiting in-person, but it does allow countless more people to gain inspiration and hope from the most important church in the world.

Pope Leo XIV knows the pitfalls and possibilities of new technology through first-hand experience (he’s the first pope to have already had a personal X/Twitter account!). He is already showing himself to be a highly relatable, thoughtful, and engaging pope. Francis laid significant groundwork for the papacy to be a voice of conscience and wisdom when addressing the challenges of artificial intelligence, just as Leo XIII did for addressing the challenges of industrialization and the rights of labour. The world is now looking to Leo XIV to offer compelling leadership on the issue that will define our current time.

Editor’s note: Our video editors and graphic designers occasionally use the help of AI to touch up and blend images, and script writers and blog authors sometimes use it to help focus our ideas and arguments, as well as help direct us to official sources. However, everything we do begins and ends with human decision-making.