On May 15, 2026 — the 135th anniversary of “Rerum Novarum” — Pope Leo XIV signed his first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas.” The date was deliberate.

Amid the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence and digital media, Pope Leo XIV is calling on families, schools and policymakers to forge an “educational alliance for the digital age” to protect the dignity and intellectual development of young people.

Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence,” addressed sexual exploitation as one of the human dignity concerns posed by AI.

In his first encyclical, Pope Leo XIV used a sweeping reflection on artificial intelligence to question whether the Catholic Church’s centuries-old just war framework remains valid in modern warfare and to ask pardon for the church’s role in slavery.

Pope Leo XIV’s new encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas” arrives at a defining moment in human history. Artificial intelligence and digital technologies are reshaping every dimension of modern life: communication, labor, economics, medicine, education and even our relationships. “Never has humanity had so much power over itself,” the pope writes.