Pope Leo XIV Signs AI Encyclical, Setting Up Clash With Trump Administration

The Vatican announced the signing on Friday, exactly 135 years after Pope Leo XIII released the labor‑focused encyclical Rerum Novarum. The new document will be the first papal encyclical to address artificial intelligence, a technology the Pope has likened to the Industrial Revolution in its societal impact.

Meghan Sullivan, director of the ethics institute at Notre Dame, said the Church will act as “the adult in the room” on AI debates. She expects the Pope to become a leading advocate for human dignity, justice and labor in the emerging regulatory landscape.

The encyclical is slated for public release in the coming weeks. Vatican officials say it will embed AI within the Church’s broader social teaching, emphasizing respect for human relationships, protection against deep‑fake manipulation, and the environmental cost of data centers.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who recently concluded a China trip with AI industry leaders Elon Musk and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, has made rapid AI development a national security and economic priority. His administration has dismissed international regulatory proposals and removed domestic barriers to AI research.

Analysts anticipate the encyclical will become a flashpoint between the Vatican’s ethics‑first approach and the Trump administration’s growth‑first stance. The U.S. has already rejected multilateral AI governance frameworks, while the EU’s 2024 AI Act applies a risk‑based regulatory model.

The Pope’s background as a mathematics graduate and his public warnings about AI‑generated “friends” and synthetic media suggest a nuanced critique rather than outright opposition. He is likely to call for AI to complement, not replace, human intelligence, echoing the Vatican’s 2020 Rome Call for AI Ethics that urged inclusiveness, accountability and privacy.

If the encyclical gains traction, it could mobilize the Catholic Church’s one‑billion‑plus followers to pressure governments for stronger safeguards. The clash may force the Trump administration to address ethical concerns that could affect trade negotiations and defense contracts involving AI technology.

Watch for the official publication of the encyclical and the Vatican’s diplomatic outreach to the United Nations and the European Union as the debate over AI governance intensifies.