AP: ‘Love My Woke Pope’: Why Leo’s First Encyclical Went Viral and How It Speaks to His Papal Approach
The 42,300-word document urges legal safeguards and human dignity as a meme account’s video drew more than 3 million Instagram views.
- In late May, Pope Leo XIV issued his first encyclical, "Magnifica Humanitas," warning that unchecked artificial intelligence risks creating "new forms of digital slavery" and must be "disarmed."
- Like his namesake Pope Leo XIII, who issued the 1891 encyclical "Rerum Novarum" to reconcile the Church with industrialization, Pope Leo XIV views technological disruption as a central ethical concern.
- Leo outlines how millions perform unseen labor in the digital economy—data labeling, content moderation—calling for "robust legal frameworks, independent oversight, informed users and a political system that does not abdicate its responsibility," Jazeera reported.
- Addressing AI-human relationships, the pontiff warns machines lack genuine experience or emotion; Vaile Wright, senior director at the American Psychological Association, notes such systems "certainly can mimic that sense of connection" but remain one-sided.
- Ultimately, Pope Leo acknowledged that "these innovations can greatly serve integral human development," yet emphasized human relationships remain essential for building resilience and developing personal values in ways AI cannot replicate.
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87 Articles
Next Saturday Leon XIV will land in Spain and will do so preceded by a great encyclical that already provokes discussion, not only among the experts in AI, but among all those who are interested in the construction of the common city at this historical moment. As the Pope himself has explained, it is not a compendium on AI or a manual on the implications of the digital revolution.
In addition to artificial intelligence, in his first encyclical he spoke of the resulting power and the new world order, with implicit references to Trump's policies.
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