{"id":1114,"date":"2026-05-25T15:39:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T15:39:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/2026\/05\/25\/pope-demands-ai-weapons-be-disarmed\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T15:39:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T15:39:44","slug":"pope-demands-ai-weapons-be-disarmed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/?p=1114","title":{"rendered":"Pope demands AI weapons be \u2018disarmed\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The technology must not be allowed to kill autonomously, the pontiff has warned<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pope Leo XIV has delivered a stark warning on artificial intelligence, claiming that the technology is aiding the \u201cnormalization of war\u201d<\/em> and transferring powers of life and death to unaccountable \u201ctechnological actors.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The American-born pontiff presented his warning on Monday in an encyclical titled \u2018Magnifica Humanitas\u2019 (Magnificent Humanity). In the 42,000-word document, Leo highlighted how the \u201cgrowth of the military-industrial complex has become a defining feature of the current political landscape,\u201d<\/em> leading to \u201ca troubling revival of war as an instrument of international politics.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In this environment, \u201cthe development and use of AI in warfare must be subject to the most rigorous ethical constraints, to guarantee respect for human dignity and the sanctity of life and to avoid a race to develop such arms,\u201d<\/em> he continued.<\/p>\n

Popes typically use encyclicals to lay out their teachings on the social issues of their times. Pope Leo XIII, who inspired the current pontiff\u2019s name, addressed the industrial revolution and inequality between the ownership and working classes in 1891\u2019s \u2018Rerum Novarum\u2019, for example, while Pope Francis tackled climate change in 2015\u2019s \u2018Laudato Si\u2019.<\/p>\n

\n

NOW – Pope Leo XIV: “Artificial Intelligence needs to be disarmed.” pic.twitter.com\/kSxjSAWjmU<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) May 25, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Since his election last May, Leo XIV has repeatedly warned of the destructive power of technology, describing AI as a potential threat to \u201chuman dignity, justice, and labor\u201d<\/em> in an address to cardinals last year. His encyclical goes a step further, calling for a global treaty to \u201cdisarm\u201d<\/em> the technology in order to prevent it from \u201cdominating humanity.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The Pope takes on Silicon Valley<\/h2>\n

While the Pope did not address Silicon Valley defense contractors such as Palantir and Anduril Industries by name, he did highlight the shift in power from the state to \u201cmajor economic and technological actors.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"Alex
Wired for War: What\u2019s in Palantir\u2019s \u2018Technofascist\u2019 manifesto?<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Palantir has grown particularly powerful in recent years, with its AI-powered data analytics software used by the US military to choose targets in Iran, and by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to plan strikes in Gaza. In Iran, Palantir\u2019s software reportedly selected a girls\u2019 elementary school in Minab as a valid target, based on outdated, human-compiled maps. A missile strike on the school killed more than 160 schoolgirls on the opening day of the war.<\/p>\n

The Pope condemned the growing automation of warfare, declaring it \u201cnot permissible to entrust lethal or otherwise irreversible decisions to artificial systems.\u201d<\/em> AI-enabled systems must retain a \u201cchain of responsibility,\u201d<\/em> he wrote, adding that \u201cthose who design, train, authorize and employ technology must be held accountable for their decisions.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The pontiff\u2019s encyclical stands in stark contrast to a manifesto released last month by Palantir CEO Alex Karp, in which he declared that American technology companies have \u201can affirmative obligation\u201d<\/em> to aid the US military, called for the remilitarization of Germany and Japan, and argued that the West should not engage in \u201ctheatrical debates about the merits of developing technologies with critical military and national security applications.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Leo has found some allies within the AI industry, however. Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah met with the pontiff in the Vatican on Monday, telling an audience of senior church leaders that AI laboratories operate \u201cinside a set of incentives and constraints that can sometimes conflict with doing the right thing,\u201d<\/em> and that regulating this industry is \u201ca moral imperative of historic proportions.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Feud with Trump<\/h2>\n

Olah and Leo have both run afoul of US President Donald Trump in recent months. Trump canceled the Pentagon\u2019s contracts with Anthropic in February, after the company refused to allow its software to be used in mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. Two months later, Trump launched a scathing rebuke of Leo, calling the pontiff \u201cweak\u201d<\/em> over his opposition to the US-Israeli war on Iran.<\/p>\n

\n
\n READ MORE: <\/span>Trump attacks Pope
\n <\/a>\n <\/p>\n

Leo has described Trump\u2019s threat to destroy Iran\u2019s civilization as \u201ctruly unacceptable,\u201d<\/em> and chastised Secretary of War Pete Hegseth for urging Americans to pray for victory \u201cin the name of Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/em> God, the Pope responded, \u201cdoes not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The Pope has also condemned the ongoing remilitarization of Europe, warning that rearmament \u201cdepletes investments in education and healthcare, undermines trust in diplomacy, and enriches elites who care nothing for the common good.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The technology must not be allowed to kill autonomously, the pontiff has warned Pope Leo…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}