Pope warns of ‘digital neocolonialism’ and calls on Church to defend human dignity in age of AI in first encyclical

Pope Leo XIV has used his first encyclical to warn that artificial intelligence and emerging technologies risk deepening global inequality, concentrating power within the hands of a couple of and creating what he described as “colonialism in one other form”. 

The recent encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas (“Magnificent Humanity”), was signed on May 15 and officially released on the Vatican this week, coinciding with the one hundred and thirty fifth anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s landmark social encyclical Rerum Novarum. 

While the document focuses heavily on artificial intelligence, Pope Leo said the encyclical is ultimately centred on protecting human dignity in an age of rapid technological change.

The Pope framed the moral challenges surrounding AI through the Church’s social doctrine, particularly principles akin to human dignity, solidarity, justice, peace and the common good.

Opening the text, he wrote that humanity now faces a decisive selection: whether to construct “a recent Tower of Babel” dominated by power and control, or a society rooted in communion with God and each other. 

The encyclical stresses that technology just isn’t inherently evil but that AI can never be considered morally neutral since it reflects the values, priorities and assumptions of those that design, fund and control it. 

Pope Leo warned that digital technologies increasingly place data, infrastructure and computational power under the control of major economic and technological actors, creating recent types of dependency, manipulation and inequality. 

He also cautioned that excessive concentration of technological power risks undermining public accountability and widening social exclusion.

Among the Pope’s strongest concerns was the rise of what he called “digital neocolonialism”, where personal and national data are extracted and exploited for economic or geopolitical advantage.

The encyclical highlights how health records, demographic information and genetic data gathered from poorer or politically weaker nations risk becoming the “rare earths” of the digital age – resources used to shape markets, guide investments and determine political influence. 

“Otherwise, the digital age won’t be post-colonial, but colonial in one other form,” the Pope warned.

The document also criticises transhumanist and posthumanist ideologies that seek to transcend human limitations through technology. 

Pope Leo argued that suffering, weakness, ageing, illness and vulnerability aren’t flaws to be eliminated, but a part of what enables compassion, love and spiritual growth. 

He wrote: “The mystery of the Son of God getting into our human condition guarantees something quite different. The living God descends into our history with the intention to free us from all types of slavery. He takes upon himself our weakness and transforms it right into a setting for salvation.” 

In considered one of the encyclical’s central themes, the Pope called for AI to be “disarmed”, warning against a technological arms race driven by military, political and business competition, in addition to a growing global “culture of power” marked by mistrust between nations and weakening international cooperation.

“To disarm doesn’t mean rejecting technology, but stopping it from dominating humanity,” he wrote. 

The Pope also raised concerns in regards to the use of AI in warfare, arguing that no algorithm could make violence morally right, and warning that increasingly automated conflict risks making violence more impersonal and easier to justify. 

Alongside its warnings, Magnifica Humanitas repeatedly emphasises the enduring dignity and great thing about human life. 

Pope Leo argued that humanity flourishes not by escaping its limitations, but often through them, describing weakness and suffering as places where grace, compassion and wisdom can emerge. 

The encyclical concludes with a call for Christians to navigate the digital age in the sunshine of the Gospel, defending truth, peace, justice and the irreplaceable value of the human person.