Disarming AI: Human Rights on Shifting Ground

Viktor Poletko (PhD, KU Leuven) is a political theorist and head of business unit at an international software consultancy.

This post is a part of our series on Magnifica Humanitas.

The idea that this Pope would kick off the contribution on social ethics was pretty obvious. Given the papal name he chose for himself, the theme of his first encyclical was easy to guess. But while Pope Leo XIII famously addressed the societal and economic effects of the Industrial Revolution, Leo XIV turned his attention to an allegedly overhyped topic of the AI revolution.

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The Holy See Noticed What Many Prefer to Be Blind to: Magnificent Humanity vs. Artificial Intelligence

Yulia Razmetaeva is a researcher at the Centre for Multidisciplinary Research on Religion and Society at Uppsala University (Sweden) and head of the Center for Law, Ethics, and Digital Technologies at Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University (Ukraine).

This post is a part of our series on Magnifica Humanitas.

On 25 May 2026, the first Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Leo XIV “Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence” was released. Consisting of 42,088 words in English, the document offers a holistic, profound, and bold look at the consequences of technocratic dominance, the digital revolution whose fruits are enjoyed by a few, and the asymmetric deployment and use of technologies, especially artificial intelligence. The letter was met with an immediate wave of enthusiastic praise and memes in both traditional and social media, since it clearly outlined concerns about technologies, challenges for humanity, and ways to protect the human person in the age of AI.

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Building Babel or Rebuilding Jerusalem: Magnifica Humanitas on AI, Power, and the Measure of Civilization

Erik Longo is full professor of constitutional and public law at the University of Florence.

This post is a part of our series on Magnifica Humanitas.

I write these notes on Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas (MH), moved by its expressive power and convinced it will become essential reading on the human and social consequences of new digital technologies. The encyclical itself opens with the responsibility we bear, as individuals and a community, in the face of the challenges of our time:

Each generation inherits the task of shaping its own era, of guiding history to become a place where the dignity of every person is safeguarded, justice is promoted and fraternity is made possible. Yet every era also runs the risk of creating an inhumane and more unjust world (MH, para. 1).

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