Pope Leo XIV will release his first encyclical on May 25, a document focused on the care of human dignity in the era of artificial intelligence, with Christopher Olah, co-founder of the AI safety company Anthropic, joining the pontiff for the launch, the Vatican announced Monday.
The encyclical positions the Catholic Church as a major institutional voice on AI ethics at a time when governments worldwide are grappling with how to regulate increasingly capable systems. The involvement of Anthropic — which bills itself as a company that puts safety and risk-mitigation at the forefront of its research — signals that the document could carry significant weight in the debate over AI governance.
MSI previously reported on the Vatican’s preparations for the first encyclical of Pope Leo XIV, who has made AI ethics a defining theme of his early papacy. The pope, an American who previously served as a cardinal, has continued and expanded the Vatican’s engagement with technology ethics that began under Pope Francis.
The Vatican did not disclose the encyclical’s title or full contents in Monday’s announcement. It said the document addresses the care of human dignity in an age of rapid technological change, a framing that echoes earlier Vatican interventions on the social and ethical implications of emerging technologies.
Olah, a prominent researcher in AI interpretability, co-founded Anthropic in 2021 alongside Dario Amodei and other former OpenAI researchers. The company has sought to distinguish itself in the competitive AI industry by emphasizing responsible deployment and safety-focused development practices.
The presence of an Anthropic co-founder at the Vatican for the encyclical’s launch carries political significance beyond the document’s theological content. In February, the Trump administration ordered all U.S. federal agencies to stop using Anthropic’s artificial intelligence technology. The administration also imposed major penalties on the company, according to the AP, after Anthropic refused to allow the U.S. military unrestricted use of its AI systems.
Anthropic is currently suing the administration. The company has accused the government of retaliating illegally against it because of its efforts to impose limits on how its AI technology can be deployed. The lawsuit represents a high-stakes test of whether private AI companies can place contractual restrictions on military use of their models.
The encyclical, known as an encyclical letter, is the highest form of papal teaching. It is addressed to the global Catholic Church and typically to all people of goodwill. This will be Leo’s first such document since his election to the papacy.
The intersection of the Vatican’s moral authority, a U.S. AI company’s legal battle with the federal government, and the intensifying global debate over AI regulation has drawn attention well beyond Catholic circles. The May 25 launch is expected to draw significant international coverage.
Pope Francis had warned repeatedly about the risks of autonomous weapons and algorithmic discrimination. Pope Leo appears to be building on that foundation while adding his own emphasis, with the Anthropic partnership suggesting a practical dimension — engaging directly with the companies building the technology rather than speaking only in general terms about its dangers.
The encyclical’s release date of May 25 means the document will arrive as the Trump administration’s conflict with Anthropic continues to unfold in the courts. The parallel tracks — a papal teaching on human dignity in the AI era and a legal fight over military access to the same technology — illustrate the competing pressures bearing on the industry.