Pope Leo Urges World Leaders to Set Shared Rules for Artificial Intelligence

Pope Leo Urges World Leaders to Set Shared Rules for Artificial Intelligence

The Vatican’s concerns go beyond science fiction, touching on disinformation, social trust and weapons that may be difficult for people to control.

Pope Leo considers the risks of artificial intelligence one of the important issues of his pontificate. The Vatican has been warning about the dangers of unchecked technological development since at least 2019, and is now calling on the international community to establish common rules for the industry.

On September 24, Pope Leo reiterated these concerns at a meeting in the Vatican. He acknowledged that artificial intelligence can benefit humanity, but also poses new threats to security and international peace. The Pope urged world leaders to regulate the technology responsibly.

In May, the pontiff had already called on world leaders to introduce global rules for the industry. In his first major document, he warned that artificial intelligence systems could spread disinformation, intensify conflicts, and push the world toward endless war.

Paolo Benanti, a priest and the Vatican’s adviser on artificial intelligence, emphasized that the Holy See’s concerns about these technologies were not new. He also noted that it is difficult to predict the scale of the societal changes artificial intelligence could bring about.

The transformative power of artificial intelligence could bring about societal changes on a scale that is very difficult to predict.

Speaking at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Leo urged world leaders to “govern” the development of the technology wisely. On Friday, he is due to speak in Paris at the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, where he is expected to raise the issue again.

Vatican calls for international rules on AI

Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s top diplomat, also called for international regulation of the industry last week. In his view, individual countries cannot tackle the challenges posed by artificial intelligence on their own.

The future of humanity is truly at stake. Everyone needs to be involved in establishing common rules capable of properly regulating this phenomenon.

Pope Leo, the first pontiff born in the United States, has raised concerns about the risks of artificial intelligence since the start of his pontificate. He first spoke publicly about the issue on the third day after his election.

Paolo Benanti did not disclose details of the closed-door discussions about artificial intelligence in which he had taken part. He noted, however, that the Vatican’s dialogue with technology companies is decentralized, with some discussions led by local bishops.

On September 16, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced the creation of a working group on artificial intelligence. The announcement followed a meeting between representatives of the bishops’ conference and industry executives.

Autonomous weapons are a particular concern

The Vatican began publicly discussing the risks of artificial intelligence in 2019, holding two conferences that year. Pope Francis, who died in 2025, warned at one of them that the spread of disinformation using AI could trigger a world war.

In 2020, the Vatican, Microsoft, IBM, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, and the Italian government called for artificial intelligence to be developed for purposes beyond simply increasing profits or gradually replacing people in the workplace.

Pope Leo is particularly insistent on oversight of weapons systems development. In his May document, he warned that autonomous weapons had advanced to the point where they were practically impossible for humans to control. The Vatican compares AI-powered drones to mines that cannot distinguish between targets.

Benanti compared concerns about AI with earlier pontifical calls for nuclear disarmament. He said that nuclear weapons can be stored in designated locations, counted, and monitored, whereas artificial intelligence has no such visible form.

If nuclear weapons can destroy humanity, then manipulating content created by generative artificial intelligence in the social sphere could deprive people of the ability to live together as a society.

The Vatican’s warnings center not only on the possibility of a catastrophic scenario, but also on threats that already exist: disinformation, escalating conflicts, and autonomous weapons. Pope Leo is urging the international community to establish common rules before these technologies become even harder for humans to control.