Pope Leo XIV Calls for "Disarming" AI in Historic Encyclical on Technology and Human Control

Pope Leo XIV, the first American-born pontiff, has issued an unprecedented papal encyclical warning that artificial intelligence poses an existential threat to humanity unless kept under robust human control. In *Magnifica Humanitas*, released in May 2026 and reiterated during a September apostolic visit to France, the Pope condemned the concentration of AI power among tech companies and called for immediate global regulation to "disarm" the technology—particularly autonomous weapons systems—and preserve human dignity in the age of machine intelligence.