Pope Leo XIV challenges AI's ability to replace God, humans in first encyclical letter

By Samantha Kamman, Christian Post Reporter Monday, May 25, 2026

Artificial intelligence undermines genuine relationships and the dignity of the human person, according to Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical letter, which argues that Christianity offers a more compelling view of the human experience than machines do.

Pope Leo XIV presented the encyclical, titled “Magnifica Humanitas” (“Magnificent Humanity”), on Monday at the Vatican’s Synod Hall. The document’s first paragraph quotes “Gaudium et spes” (“Joy and Hope”), a Second Vatican Council document addressing the Church’s responsibilities, including speaking on moral issues.

“Whenever humanity is in danger of marring its true identity, we Christians lift our eyes to the Incarnate God, knowing that it is ‘only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of humanity truly becomes clear,’” the encyclical states. “In Jesus Christ, this humanity in its grandeur becomes the Way, the Truth and the Life, opening the path for each of us to grow toward fullness.”

The pope later addresses the view that human limitations such as “incapacity, illness, old age, suffering, vulnerability” are defects needing correction “rather than a reality through which our humanity matures and opens itself to relationship.”

“Even when limitations are experienced as inner suffering, human wisdom teaches us not to deny or suppress it, but to integrate it. To eliminate suffering entirely would mean, in the end, extinguishing love and desire as well,” the pope states.

The papal document also acknowledges that AI can be a “valuable tool” but warns that such technology requires “a measured and vigilant approach.” Pope Leo XIV noted that the “speed and simplicity” of information made available through modern technology can make life easier.

“Yet they can also encourage excessive reliance and the search for ready-made answers, and weaken personal creativity and judgment,” the document warns. “The apparent objectivity of the responses and suggestions these systems provide can lead us to overlook the fact that they reflect the cultural assumptions of those who designed and trained them, with all their strengths and limitations.”

The pontiff also addressed AI’s ability to imitate “positive human communication,” which can be dangerous for users who trust the illusion that the relationship is real.

“When words are simulated, they do not build genuine relationships, but only their appearance. The artificial imitation of care or support can become particularly risky when it enters contexts where real relationships and emotional bonds are lacking,” he warns.

“Here, the danger is not so much that a person may believe they are communicating with another person, but rather that they may gradually lose the very desire to form genuine human connections.”

Days before Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical letter addressing the moral and social questions surrounding AI, a top Vatican official warned that AI deepfakes can “have painful consequences on the destiny of individuals.”

Cardinal Jose Tolentino de Mendonça, prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, spoke about AI during a conference in Rome on Thursday. The conference was organized by the Dicastery for Communication and held at the Pontifical Urban University, according to ACI Africa.

“When a deepfake lends a person’s face to words they have never spoken ... it is the very grammar of the human encounter that is altered,” Mendonça said. “Technology that exploits our need for relationship ... can not only have painful consequences on the destiny of individuals, but it can also damage the social, cultural and political fabric of societies.”

The Vatican official referenced “Preserving Human Voices and Faces,” the title of Pope Leo XIV’s message for the 60th World Day of Social Communications, saying the goal is not to stop digital innovation but to guide it.

Pope Leo XIV’s message warned that digital technology “threatens to alter radically some of the fundamental pillars of human civilization that at times are taken for granted.”

“By simulating human voices and faces, wisdom and knowledge, consciousness and responsibility, empathy and friendship, the systems known as artificial intelligence not only interfere with information ecosystems, but also encroach upon the deepest level of communication, that of human relationships,” Pope Leo XIV wrote.

The pope clarified in his message, however, that the “task laid before us is not to stop digital innovation, but rather to guide it and to be aware of its ambivalent nature.”

The encyclical letter comes amid ongoing discussions about the technology’s ability to produce sexually exploitative content.

Earlier this year, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation warned that Grok, a chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s company xAI, can generate nude or obscene images if users ask it to digitally alter pictures of real people.

A Lifeway Research study found that 61% of Protestant churchgoers expressed concern about AI’s effect on the faith, including 67% of Evangelicals compared with 55% of those without Evangelical beliefs.

The survey also found that about 44% of churchgoers see nothing wrong with pastors using AI to prepare sermons, while 43% are opposed, including 24% who strongly disagreed. Another 13% were undecided.

The study was based on two polls: a phone survey of 1,003 Protestant pastors conducted in September 2025, with a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points, and an online survey of 1,200 American Protestant churchgoers conducted in September 2025, with a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points.

“Caution is an instinctive reaction to new things, and pastors and churchgoers share some concerns around AI,” Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research, said in a statement. “The majority of younger churchgoers would welcome hearing biblical principles applied to AI in a sermon to help shape their perspective on it.”