Pope Leo XIV has called for artificial intelligence to be "disarmed" and made "human-friendly" in a major text on the ethical challenges raised by the boom of the new technology.
In his encyclical "Magnifica Humanitas" ("Magnificent Humanity"), the pope warned against "a race for ever more powerful algorithms and larger datasets, driven by the desire to secure geopolitical or commercial dominance".
The pontiff also warned about the "new forms of slavery" behind artificial intelligence - from content moderators to miners - and called for greater regulation.
"If technology promises emancipation, yet produces new forms of global subordination, it stands in contradiction to the fundamental principle of human dignity. The fight against new forms of slavery is a decisive test for the ethical discernment of AI," the pope wrote.
Pope Leo, who has adopted a more forceful tone in recent months and has drawn the ire of US President Donald Trump after criticising the Iran war, made a range of impassioned appeals to world leaders in the lengthy text.
He called for ownership of AI data not to be left solely in private hands, for policy-makers to protect the rights of workers and keep children safe from the technology, and urged the cooling of competition between AI companies.
Read More: Pope Leo's first encyclical focuses on AI concerns
"What is needed is a more active political involvement that is capable of slowing things down when everything is accelerating," he wrote.
Encyclicals are one of the highest forms of teaching from a pontiff.
The text, spanning nearly 43,000 words, has been in the works nearly since Leo's election as pope a little more than a year ago.
Pope repudiates 'just war' theory
The document, which addressed AI as its main theme, also decried the number of wars in the world, lamented the weakening of multilateral organisations and warned that arms industry profits were a driving force behind conflicts.
"The past 60 years have been marked by conflicts of astonishing brutality, often affecting civilian populations on a massive scale," stated Leo, in the English-language text.
"Humanity is slipping into a violent culture of power, where peace no longer appears as a responsibility to be taken on, but as a fragile interval between conflicts," he said.
The pope also made one of the clearest statements yet from a pontiff repudiating the just war theory, a doctrine the Church has used since at least the fifth century to evaluate global conflicts.
The doctrine, which generally says that wars should only be waged in order to defend against aggression, has also been invoked by Trump administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic, to defend the Iran war.
"The 'just war' theory which has all too often been used to justify any kind of war, is now outdated," wrote Pope Leo.
"The use of force, violence and weapons reflects a relational poverty that always has disastrous consequences for civilian populations."
He also expressed concern that leaders could start wars to distract citizens from domestic issues.
"We cannot rule out the possibility that some leaders may consider armed conflict as an effective way of diverting attention from domestic problems and a cynical tool for managing difficulties," he stated.
Apology for Church's role in slavery
The pope said any use of AI in warfare "must be subject to the most rigorous ethical constraints" and called it "not permissible" to entrust AI systems with lethal decisions.
Leo, the 14th pope to choose that name, cited centuries of prior papal teachings on social justice issues before addressing the ethics of AI systems.
He specifically invoked his predecessor Leo XIII, who published a famed encyclical in 1891 that called for better pay and conditions for labourers during the Industrial Revolution.
Leo XIV decried what he called "new forms of slavery" endured by people tending AI systems and factory workers who produce the technological devices, such as computers and smartphones, on which AI is used.
"In some regions of the world, children and adolescents work in dangerous conditions, crushing the materials from which rare earth elements are extracted," he wrote.
"The bodies of these people are scarred, injured and worn down so that computational flow may continue uninterruptedly," he said. "This reality deeply challenges the moral conscience of our time."
The pope also acknowledged that the Catholic Church did not forcefully condemn transatlantic slavery until the 19th century, and made a personal apology.
"This constitutes a wound in Christian memory," he wrote. "For this, in the name of the Church, I sincerely ask for pardon."
World urged to address AI risks
Leo, who stated in the opening of the letter that he wanted to address Catholics and all people of good will, said society must face "crucial questions" about how AI was developing and the general direction of global leadership.
Invoking the biblical story of the Tower of Babel - where a human tribe is driven by pride to try to create a tower tall enough to reach Heaven, angering God - the pope said the story shows the risk of any enterprise that "aspires to reach heaven without God's blessing."
"With the heart of a shepherd and a father, I ask everyone to abandon the construction of yet another Tower of Babel and to join forces in building up the common good," the pope stated.
Leo urged the world not to give up on addressing the possible risks of AI systems.
"A subtle temptation may emerge, namely the thought that the problems are too big and we are too small, and that our choices, therefore, cannot make a difference," he wrote.
"Certainly, not everyone has the same power to make a difference," Leo said. "Yet, no one is without responsibility. We all have our own areas for action."
