Dear church,
On May 25, 2026, Pope Leo XIV published his first major encyclical focused on artificial intelligence.
For centuries, encyclicals (pastoral letters) have responded to the major moral challenges of their eras, such as war, industrialization, labour exploitation, andecological destruction. Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity): On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence, reflects on one of the defining questions of our time: how do we protect human dignity in a rapidly changing world?
The encyclical is, I believe, thoughtful and balanced. Pope Leo acknowledges the remarkable opportunities AI could bring to medicine, education, research, accessibility and communication. Still, the document expresses a deep worry about the kind of civilization we are creating and the people we are becoming within it.
The real crisis is not about technology; it is about us as people. AI is coming into a world increasingly shaped by rising xenophobia, exalted individualism, environmental collapse, political extremes, economic inequality, greater polarity, deep exhaustion, and profound loneliness. We are bringing these systems into a world where many people already feel distracted, isolated, overwhelmed and disconnected from meaning.
Pope Leo seems to be asking the question: Can a society built on speed, automation, and efficiency, where human value is often linked to output, visibility, performance, and usefulness, still see the sacredness of each person?
This is perhaps why I was so moved by the encyclical. The pastoral letter reminds us that humanity is still sacred.
Recently, World Council of Churches General Secretary, Rev. Prof. Dr. Jerry Pillay put it this way, “Technology must be used to enhance and develop human life and living and not displace human labour, value and dignity.” (https://www.oikoumene.org/news/what-kind-of-world-are-we-hoping-to-build-wcc-commends-magnifica-humanitas-to-all-people)
I believe many need to hear this message today.
We/you are more than something to be optimized, measured, and sold. Created, we are told in Genesis, from dust and breath; grounded, connected, vulnerable and dependent; shaped by memories, relationships, struggles, hopes, wonder and love; fragile, full of contradictions, and able to be violent and gentle at once, and still deserve dignity beyond what you can produce or achieve. Protecting, deepening and engaging this truth may be one of the most important spiritual callings of our time.
While the encyclical addresses the rise of AI, its message goes far beyond technology. Pope Leo speaks about the dignity of work, social justice, truth, peace, solidarity and the dangers of systems driven by power, profit and exclusion, reminding us that progress should never come at the expense of people—especially the poor, vulnerable, and marginalized.
It is an urgent calling to all to help build a “civilization of love,” rooted in compassion, justice and the common good.
“Ours is the pressing duty,” Pope Leo writes, in a time of uncertainty and rapid transformation, “to remain profoundly human.”
I encourage you to read the encyclical. (https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/encyclicals/documents/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.html)
In Christ Jesus – Shalom,
Rev. Larry Kochendorfer
ELCIC National Bishop
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