Since his earliest days in the job, Pope Leo XIV has made talking about AI a priority of his papacy. On Monday, he released his first encyclical under the name Magnifica Humanitas (which translates to magnificent humanity) — a powerful 42,300-word document calling for regulation of the technology and a moral framework that protects humanity for generations to come. The 70-year-old American Pope, who is a mathematician by training, was elected to the papacy in May 2025 and has made “the safeguarding of the human person in the time of artificial intelligence,” as the encyclical’s subhead reads, a central tenet of his first year in the role. The document’s publication arrives at a moment that many are already comparing to the industrial revolution in terms of its impact on our work and ways of life. AI companies including OpenAI and Anthropic are growing and improving the capabilities of their models at extraordinary rates, stoking the fires of the ongoing debate about whether AI will be be more beneficial or harmful to society. Amid all of …