Pope offers guidance to Catholic lawmakers as they address AI
August 21, 2026
Pope Leo XIV told Catholic lawmakers today that the world needs “human intelligence enlightened by wisdom, political authority guided by conscience, and technological innovation directed by charity.”
Addressing members of the International Catholic Legislators Network as they met to discuss “Human Dignity and Artificial Intelligence: Challenges, Chances and Control,” Pope Leo said that “the extraordinary progress of artificial intelligence is opening horizons that previous generations could scarcely have imagined. Yet every technological achievement also confronts humanity with a moral question: not merely what can we do, but what ought we to do?”
In answering the question, the Pope said that “the decisive question remains the same: Does technology help people to become more fraternal and responsible toward themselves and toward one another? In this regard, the principles of the Church’s Social Doctrine—the inviolable dignity of every person, the common good, the universal destination of goods, subsidiarity and solidarity—provide the sure criteria for discernment.”
During the audience, which took place this morning in Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace, the Pontiff offered guidance to the lawmakers as they address AI:
- “Your task is not to hinder innovation but to guide it wisely Sound legislation should encourage scientific and technological creativity while safeguarding fundamental human rights and freedoms. It should protect users from exploitation, preserve personal privacy, ensure transparency in the use of emerging technologies and guarantee that they strengthen democratic institutions.”
- “Such oversight can operate at multiple levels—local, national and international—facilitating open discussion of the ethical frameworks involved and subjecting them to shared standards of social justice and ensuring that no single ideology or interest dictates the values embedded in artificial intelligence systems.”
- “The rapid development of artificial intelligence risks creating new forms of technological dependence, with poorer nations increasingly reliant on wealthier ones. We must remain vigilant in this regard, lest innovation become another vehicle for ideological or economic colonialism.”
“Against this culture of power the Church proposes the civilization of love—one that would govern artificial intelligence wisely by cultivating hearts capable of charity, compassion and responsibility,” the Pope continued. “In such a society, the first school of humanity would be the family.”
The Pontiff warned:
Artificial intelligence must never be allowed to erode this primary cell of society—whether by reducing persons and relationships to data and simulations, by flooding young minds with content that distorts desire, or by economic models that make family life economically precarious. For this reason, I encourage you to promote policies that strengthen marriage and families, support parents in their educational mission and enable young people to look to the future with confidence.
“Dear friends, the world does not need an artificial intelligence that diminishes humanity; rather, it needs human intelligence enlightened by wisdom, political authority guided by conscience and technological innovation directed by charity,” Pope Leo added. “Only then will artificial intelligence become not a rival to humanity but a servant of the common good.”
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