May 25, 2026 marks a historic day for the Catholic Church. Pope Leo XIV has officially promulgated his first encyclical letter, titled Magnifica Humanitas, dedicated to “the safeguarding of the human person in the age of artificial intelligence.” The choice of date is deeply symbolic. The document bears the date of May 15, coinciding with the 135th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s landmark encyclical Rerum Novarum - a deliberate reference to the great tradition of Catholic social teaching, now renewed to address the challenges of the modern technological era.
The presentation took place in the Synod Hall and featured the unprecedented presence of Pope Leo XIV himself. Never before had a pontiff personally attended the official presentation of one of his own encyclicals. Among the speakers invited to discuss the document was an unexpected figure: Christopher Olah, co-founder of Anthropic and a leading researcher in AI interpretability. His participation highlighted the Vatican’s intention to engage directly with the world of technology and artificial intelligence research. Already being described as a defining text of the new pontificate, Magnifica Humanitas represents the Church’s most significant intervention yet on one of the most urgent issues of our time.