WILMINGTON, DE — Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington Bishop William Koenig endorsed Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical on artificial intelligence Monday, aligning the regional Catholic leadership with a broader Vatican effort to frame AI development as a moral and social issue rather than solely a technological or economic one.
The encyclical, titled Magnifica Humanitas, addresses the ethical implications of artificial intelligence and calls for AI systems to be evaluated based on their impact on human dignity, social relationships, and the common good.
Koenig described the document as guidance for navigating what he called a “digital transition,” while warning against evaluating artificial intelligence purely through efficiency or technological capability.
“Pope Leo calls us not to judge our use of Artificial Intelligence merely by its effectiveness, but rather the human, social and spiritual bonds it enables or destroys,” Koenig wrote in a statement issued Monday.
The encyclical was signed on the 135th anniversary of Rerum Novarum, the foundational Catholic social teaching document issued by Pope Leo XIII in 1891, linking the Vatican’s current AI concerns to broader historical debates over labor, industrialization, and economic change.
The statement reflects growing engagement by religious institutions in global debates over artificial intelligence governance, workplace disruption, privacy, and the concentration of technological power.
Koenig also referenced a 2025 pastoral letter issued by bishops in Maryland titled The Face of Christ in a Digital Age, which examined the role of artificial intelligence through the lens of Catholic teaching on human dignity and social responsibility.
The Diocese of Wilmington published additional information about the encyclical on the Diocese of Wilmington AI Encyclical Information Page.
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