Pope Leo XIV is set to unveil his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity), on May 25, with the Vatican describing it as a document centered on human dignity in the age of artificial intelligence. The launch will be staged not in the Vatican press room but in the main Vatican auditorium, where the Vatican said reporters will have access to a formal slate of presenters.
Among those attached to the event is Christopher Olah, an Anthropic co-founder who will appear among the encyclical’s lay speakers. The appearance of Olah at the Vatican highlights how the Church’s message on AI is arriving as the company becomes entangled in a U.S. government dispute over the use of its technology.
The Vatican said the first public presentation will be led by two senior cardinals: Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, identified by the Vatican as its doctrine chief, and Cardinal Michael Czerny, identified as its development chief. The Vatican said both will serve as the main presenters during the formal launch.
Olah will be joined by other lay speakers, including theologians Anna Rowlands and Leocadie Lushombo, according to the Vatican’s schedule for the May 25 event. The Vatican said that after the presentations, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, will offer a conclusion, and Pope Leo will then deliver a speech and provide a final blessing.
The Vatican also tied the timing of the encyclical to a date marked in Catholic tradition. Pope Leo signed the document on May 15, which the Vatican said was 135 years to the day after his namesake, Pope Leo XIII, signed the influential encyclical “Rerum Novarum,” which addressed workers’ rights and the obligations of states and employers during the Industrial Revolution.
The Vatican said it expects the new encyclical to place the AI question within the church’s social teaching, which it said also covers labor, justice and peace. In earlier remarks about the topic, the Vatican’s framing suggested the AI era poses “existential questions” akin to those that “Rerum Novarum” confronted over a century ago as industrial society reshaped work and society.
The Church’s selection of Olah comes amid renewed attention to the politics of AI development and deployment. Anthropic has billed itself as an AI company that prioritizes safety and risk mitigation, according to the Associated Press, and its presence at the Vatican launch is likely to amplify public scrutiny of the Pope’s stance on AI as a policy issue.
The Associated Press report also said that in February, the Trump administration ordered U.S. agencies to stop using Anthropic’s artificial intelligence technology and imposed penalties for refusing to allow the U.S. military unrestricted use of that AI technology. The report added that Anthropic is suing the administration and has accused it of retaliation, describing its effort to impose limits on how Anthropic’s AI technology can be deployed.
The Vatican’s program also reflects broader international pressure around AI. The Associated Press report said that, in a recent statement, Anthropic warned about AI threats falling into the hands of authoritarian regimes and urged that the U.S. and democratic allies continue leading AI development while imposing rules and norms on its spread.
The May 25 launch comes as the broader AI industry remains in competition over frontier models and safety approaches. The Associated Press report said Anthropic’s leadership includes Dario Amodei, who previously worked at OpenAI before co-founding Anthropic in 2021 after leaving OpenAI, and that the company has focused on safety for so-called artificial general intelligence. Earlier, it said, Anthropic privately reported a valuation that it placed alongside rivals such as OpenAI and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which has merged with Musk’s AI startup xAI.