On Safeguarding the Human Person
in the Time of Artificial Intelligence
Presented as a narrated slide deck walkthrough
Credits: deck by Andy Lauppe (@alauppe on X), created with DeepSeek-4-flash.
The choice is not "yes or no" to technology — it is Babel vs. Jerusalem:
between a power that dominates and a people who rebuild together in God's presence.
Key question (§129, citing John Paul II):
"Does AI make human life on earth 'more human' in every aspect? Does it make it more worthy of man?"
"Each generation inherits the task of shaping its own era… Yet every era also runs the risk of creating an inhumane and more unjust world."
Babel (§7): A single language, a single technology, a single direction. Built on pride, uniformity, self-sufficiency. Result: dispersion, confusion.
Nehemiah (§8): Prayer, shared responsibility, diversity of roles. "The city is reborn, not through the initiative of one man, but through the shared responsibility of all."
"Let us not be afraid to get our hands dirty on the 'construction site' of our time."
Leo XIII faced the "new things" of the industrial age. Today, AI and digitalization are the res novae — "new things" — of our era.
"Technology should not be considered, in itself, as a force antagonistic to humanity." But today's power is unprecedented:
"We must realistically ask ourselves who holds this power today and how they use it." (Francis)
Crucial questions we can no longer avoid:
The Church's Social Doctrine is not an inert set of concepts but a living corpus that grows through dialogue with history.
"Truth is not a territory to be defended, but a good to be shared."
The Pope affirms Francis' insight: "time is greater than space" — what matters is initiating good processes, not occupying positions of power.
Truth is like a polyhedron — one truth reflected from different angles.
Social Doctrine is a theology of communion in history.
"What we now call the 'Social Doctrine of the Church' is not a spontaneous product of the modern age."
The result: a harmonious, living tradition — different emphases, progressive insights, never interrupted.
At the heart of Social Doctrine: the mystery of the Triune God — a communion of Persons, love itself in relationship.
"Every human person is planned and willed by God to enter into communion with him, with others, and with creation."
Dignity is not earned — it is a gift. It does not depend on abilities, wealth, or achievements.
Dignitas Infinita (2024): "Every human person possesses an infinite dignity, inalienably grounded in his or her very being."
The Pope distinguishes four senses of dignity:
The Pope warns against the ideology that suggests persons must earn or justify their worth — reducing them to a means.
"The sum total of social conditions which allow people… to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily." (GS 26)
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The common good is a "plus" — the result of interaction and mutual influence.
International dimension: the Pope insists no nation should be eliminated or subjugated — "gravely immoral and therefore unacceptable."
Earth's goods are given to the entire human family. Private property is legitimate but never absolute.
New application: This principle now extends to patents, algorithms, digital platforms, technological infrastructure, and data.
Higher-level authorities must not supplant individuals, families, and intermediary organizations.
Applied to the digital age (§71): The "highest level" is not the State but major economic and technological actors — companies and platforms that define conditions for access, rules of visibility, forms of interaction.
Subsidiarity requires: transparency, accountability, independent checks, equitable access to data, avenues for recourse.
States and transnational bodies must ensure fair rules and effective safeguards so that local communities, schools, universities, and associations have a voice.
Both a principle (interdependence) and a virtue (firm determination for the common good).
Intimate link with subsidiarity: one without the other degenerates.
Extended to the "digital ecosystem" — decisions about data, algorithms, and AI must consider future generations.
Begins with the least among us. A litmus test: treatment of migrants, refugees. Two commitments: protect those forced to leave, and promote the right to remain.
Development must foster "each man and the whole man." The Pope calls for metrics beyond GDP.
The Pope turns the principles inward — the Church herself must be examined:
"Only to the extent that we are open to the action of the Holy Spirit will these principles become incarnate in ecclesial life."
Building on Laudato Si' — the Pope denounces the tendency to let efficiency, control, and profit alone shape all decisions.
"When technology becomes the standard by which everything is judged, it begins to dictate what matters and what can be discarded, reducing creation to an object of exploitation and human beings to mere cogs."
The Pope cites Romano Guardini: "Contemporary man has not been trained to use power well."
He warns: technological progress without ethical progress = "having more" without "being more".
Control over platforms, infrastructure, data, and computing power rests not with States but with major economic and technological actors.
This power tends to become opaque and evade public oversight.
The criteria for judgment: dignity, common good, universal destination, subsidiarity, solidarity, social justice.
"We must assess whether the power of digital infrastructures and algorithms truly fosters participation and responsibility, protects the vulnerable, ensures fair access to opportunities."
"We must avoid the misconception of equating this type of 'intelligence' with that of human beings."
AI systems:
Their "learning" is statistical adaptation — not inner growth.
AI requires enormous energy and water, significantly influencing carbon emissions. The Pope calls for sustainable technological solutions.
"Every technical tool embodies choices and priorities through what it measures, ignores, and optimizes, and how it classifies people and situations."
Ethical discernment must examine how a system is designed and what vision of the human person is embedded in its data and models.
Key demand: "A more moral AI is not enough if that morality is determined by a few. What is needed is a more active political involvement."
"Ownership of data cannot be left solely in private hands but must be appropriately regulated. Data is the product of many contributors and should not be treated as something to be sold off or entrusted to a select few."
The Pope introduces a powerful image: disarming AI — freeing it from the mentality of "armed" competition (military, economic, cognitive).
"To disarm does not mean rejecting technology, but preventing it from dominating humanity."
Appeal to developers (§111): "Every design choice reflects a vision of humanity."
"Humanity flourishes not despite limitations, but often through them."
Compassion, generosity, spiritual experience emerge precisely within our limits.
"To eliminate suffering entirely would mean, in the end, extinguishing love and desire as well."
The Pope cites Viktor Frankl on humanity's duality: "man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord's Prayer on his lips."
The Pope critiques these currents as the ideological background of many tech centers.
"If the human being is treated as something to be perfected or surpassed, it becomes easier to accept that some lives are less useful, less desirable, or less worthy."
Key distinction: "It is one thing to integrate technology within a human-centered, relational vision; it is quite another to be guided by an outlook that devalues human limits and promises a purely technical form of 'salvation.'"
The Pope lists institutions that protect shared life (Red Cross, UN, Universal Declaration, Refugee Convention) and exemplary figures (MLK, Mandela, Teresa of Calcutta, etc.). He honors the "martyrs of everyday life" — parents, nurses, volunteers.
"The Christian tradition has maintained that human beings are not confined by the boundaries of their own nature; rather, they are called to self-transcendence… through their fulfillment in love."
Citing Francis: "We become fully human when we become more than human, when we let God bring us beyond ourselves in order to attain the fullest truth of our being."
"What saves humanity is not enhanced self-sufficiency, but a relationship that liberates, a communion that transforms."
"For an algorithm, an error is a flaw to be corrected; for a person, however, an error can be a catalyst for profound change. A person's future is not calculable."
The Pope closes the chapter with Augustine's two loves:
"The construction of Babel or the rebuilding of Jerusalem begins within each one of us."
Ultimate criterion (citing John Paul II): "Does AI make human life on earth 'more human' in every aspect? Does it make it more worthy of man?"
"Disinformation did not begin with AI, yet today it finds a powerful amplifier in AI."
The Pope warns: indifference to truth leads to totalitarianism. He cites Hannah Arendt: totalitarianism's ideal subjects are those for whom "the distinction between fact and fiction… no longer exist."
"Democracy does not consist of rules and procedures alone, but above all of a solid concordance with the facts."
Those who control digital platforms have immense power to shape culture. The Pope calls for an ecology of communication: transparency, protection of data, serious journalism.
The Pope warns about early and unsupervised exposure to digital devices: negative impacts on sleep, attention, emotions, relationships; exposure to violent and degrading content.
He calls for a legislative alliance to protect minors: age limits, holding platforms accountable, protecting against online exploitation.
Three challenges for schools:
1. Socio-political — inequality in access
2. Pedagogical — outdated curricula
3. Intellectual — fragmented knowledge
"Schools are not called to follow the pace of the digital world, but to offer that which the digital sphere by itself cannot provide: a shared time for learning and developing trustworthy relationships."
Work is "the essential key" to understanding the entire social question (John Paul II).
Work is not simply an instrument — it expresses and enhances dignity. The Pope cites St. Benedict: prayer and work united.
"While AI promises to boost productivity… it frequently forces workers to adapt to the speed and demands of machines, rather than machines being designed to support those who work."
Risk of de-skilling, automated surveillance, rigid tasks — eroding workers' sense of agency.
The Pope calls for:
"More than ever, in the age of AI and robotics, it is no longer possible to rely solely on the 'invisible hand' of the market."
The Pope calls for metrics beyond GDP (§159) and critiques finance that operates without "anthropological and moral foundations."
The "digital attention economy" exploits vulnerabilities and weakens inner freedom.
The Pope warns about social control through data: profiling, predicting, influencing behavior — often without awareness.
"Freedom in the digital age is not merely a matter of interiority but also a public concern. It calls for clear rules, transparency, the possibility of recourse and proportionate limits."
Some post-humanist currents envision "second-class" human beings — subordinate to elite interests.
A powerful denunciation: the digital economy relies on invisible labor — data labeling, model training, content moderation — often young people, predominantly women, working for minimal wages. Children extract rare earth elements in dangerous conditions.
New colonialism: not of bodies but of data — health data, genetic maps, demographic information extracted from vulnerable regions.
"If technology promises emancipation, yet produces new forms of global subordination, it stands in contradiction to the fundamental principle of human dignity."
The Pope asks for pardon (§176) for the Church's historical complicity in slavery — acknowledging it took 18 centuries for explicit condemnation. He calls this "a wound in Christian memory" and urges vigilance.
The Pope declares the "just war" theory outdated (§192) — "it has all too often been used to justify any kind of war."
He denounces a paradigm shift: war is no longer treated as a last resort. Algorithms that reward conflict, loss of historical memory (Holocaust, World Wars), and polarizing media narratives fuel this shift.
"Humanity possesses far more effective and capable tools for promoting human life and resolving conflicts, such as dialogue, diplomacy and forgiveness."
The military-industrial complex, the arms market, nuclear deterrence, and the development of "miniaturized" weapons make war seem more viable.
No algorithm can make war morally acceptable. Lethal decisions cannot be delegated to automated systems.
Three criteria:
The Pope critiques the weakening of international institutions, the rise of "might makes right," and a false realism that treats war as inevitable. He warns against nihilism and pragmatism that normalize grave errors.
1. Disarm words (§214) — "Let us disarm words and we will help to disarm the world."
2. Build peace through justice (§215) — citing Augustine: "Do you wish to attain peace? Then practice justice!"
3. Adopt the perspective of victims (§§216–217) — cannot remain neutral when civilians are bombed, hospitals attacked. "Touching the wounded flesh" (Francis).
4. Cultivate a healthy realism (§218) — neither idealism nor cynicism, but viable paths for peace.
5. Revive dialogue and multilateralism (§§219–227) — the Pope quotes his own appeal: "Let us meet, let us talk, let us negotiate! War is never inevitable."
"At the heart of the great spiritual paths lies a message of peace." Those who use God's name to legitimize violence "betray his true nature."
The Holy See's diplomacy adopts the Gospel's principle of mercy as a concrete criterion for political action.
Praying and hoping (§228): The Pope returns to his first "Urbi et Orbi" blessing — "Peace be with you! It is the peace of the risen Christ. A peace that is unarmed and disarming, humble and persevering."
The Pope quotes Tolkien (§213): "It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set."
The Pope returns to the Incarnation as the decisive response to transhumanist dreams.
"The living God descends into our history in order to free us from all forms of slavery. He takes upon himself our weakness and transforms it into a setting for salvation."
Citing Pierre de Bérulle: "Man is God and this God-Man passes through all those stages, endures all those states and ennobles them, sanctifies them, deifies them in himself!"
"What saves humanity is the divine love that descends into the most fragile point of our history and renews it from within."
"No computational system, however sophisticated, can create a heart that gives itself, or a conscience that discerns good from evil."
The Pope speaks of "recapitulation" (Eph 1:10) — the certainty that all things will be brought back to Christ. "Nothing will be lost that is authentically human."
"Even when machines excel in efficiency, a human face that asks to be gazed upon remains the center of our history."
The Eucharist is the sacrament of unity. Citing Augustine: "Be then a member of the Body of Christ that your Amen may be true!"
The Church, nourished by the Eucharist, must make visible a different paradigm — one that preserves human connections, gives a voice to the invisible.
"Nehemiah heard the cry of a devastated city, brought that pain to prayer, discerned before God… rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem brick by brick."
We are called to enter the construction sites of history — research laboratories, tech companies, schools, media, institutions, local communities.
The Pope entrusts our desire to the Mother of Christ, the Woman of the Magnificat, that she may guide our steps through this time of change.
Given in Rome, at Saint Peter's, on 15 May 2026, the second year of the Pontificate of Pope Leo XIV.
"Let each builder choose with care how to build." — 1 Corinthians 3:10
"Even the era of AI can become a time in which the Holy Spirit brings about the civilization of love in our lives."