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Pope Bans AI Lethal Use; VP Vance, Bishops Back

6/2/2026

Summary

Pope Bans AI

Pope Leo XIV issued the encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas” on May 25, warning AI could become a Tower of Babel and banning its use in lethal decisions.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance endorsed the pope’s AI stance at a May 28 Air Force Academy address.
U.S. bishops, led by Archbishop Paul Coakley, pledged AI advocacy after a poll showed eight in ten Americans fear AI.

Summary

Leo XIV Marks Anniversary

Vatican Radio released a seven-chapter audiobook of Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical *Magnifica Humanitas*.
The encyclical was signed on May 15, 2026, deliberately marking the 135th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s *Rerum Novarum*.
By choosing that date, Leo XIV highlighted a historical link to the Church’s social teaching on labor.
In the address, Leo XIV also invoked Pope Leo XIII’s 1894 apostolic letter *Orientalium Dignitas* to stress preserving the dignity and liturgical heritage of the Eastern Catholic Churches.

Summary

Leo XIV Fasts

Pope Leo XIV called ascetic practices a “medicine for the digital age” in his May 14, 2025 address to Eastern Catholics.
Magnifica Humanitas urges schools, parishes, seminaries, universities and families to teach digital fasting, silence and prayer before using technology.
The encyclical links Rerum Novarum with Orientalium Dignitas, opening a path for Catholic-Orthodox discernment and warning that AI creates a “Babel” of false unity, universal scoring and surveillance that erases diversity.

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Pope Bans AI

Pope Leo XIV issued the encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas” on May 25, warning AI could become a Tower of Babel and banning its use in lethal decisions.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance endorsed the pope’s AI stance at a May 28 Air Force Academy address.
U.S. bishops, led by Archbishop Paul Coakley, pledged AI advocacy after a poll showed eight in ten Americans fear AI.

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