Pope Leo, Anthropic co-founder call for church-tech ethics partnership at 'Magnifica Humanitas' release | National Catholic Reporter

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Pope Leo XIV shakes hands with Chris Olah, a Canadian billionaire and AI researcher who co-founded Anthropic, during the presentation of the pope's encyclical, "Magnifica Humanitas," at the Vatican synod hall May 25, 2026. (CNS/Lola Gomez)

by Justin McLellan<br>Vatican Correspondent<br>View Author Profile<br>[email protected]Follow on Twitter at @m/McLellan_Js

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Vatican City — May 25, 2026<br>Share on BlueskyShare on FacebookShare on TwitterEmail to a friendPrint

Pope Leo XIV made history by becoming the first pope to personally present an encyclical to the world on May 25, yet the document's release was also historic for the presence of another figure: Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah.

Seated among a row of cardinals and theologians to address a packed Vatican auditorium, Leo and the 33-year-old atheist tech leader made an unlikely duo in championing a partnership between the Catholic Church and the tech industry to develop safeguards for the precarious development of AI.

Olah highlighted the need for tech leaders to be in dialogue with people who are not motivated by the vast sums of money AI tech companies are chasing — some estimates put Anthropic's value at about $900 billion — while Leo said the "gravity of the moment" meant the church must lend its moral voice. One Vatican official acknowledged that inviting Olah was unusual and should be read as a sign of Leo's seriousness in engaging the world.

A copy of Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence,” is seen during a presentation on the document at the Vatican May 25, 2026. (CNS/Lola Gomez)

"We haven't usually invited someone from the outside," a senior Vatican source familiar with the event's organization, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the encyclical's presentation, said ahead of its release. "The gesture is in fact an expression of the great willingness and desire for us to enter into or to participate more fully in the dialogues that are going on."

The encyclical, titled Magnifica Humanitas ("Magnificent Humanity"), on safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence, offers a sprawling survey of contemporary crises plaguing humanity that are often amplified by the rapid, unchecked technological development that defines the times.

Seated in front of members of the Roman Curia, Olah called for collaboration in the development of AI "between those of us who are building this and those who can see what we, from inside, cannot."

The Vatican's Synod Hall, which has a capacity of about 380 people, was filled primarily with Curial officials, diplomats and academics. Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago sat among other cardinals in the front row; Brian Burch, U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, was also present.

Franciscan Fr. Paolo Benanti, a theology professor at Rome's Gregorian University who has become a key reference point for the Vatican on AI issues, approached Olah to shake his hand and gave him an enthusiastic thumbs-up before taking his seat.

"It is enormously important that there be people outside those incentives" that guide the tech industry, Olah said, pointing to pressures to stay commercially viable, the drive to remain on the frontier of research, geopolitical pressure and human pride and ambition, "to be our earnest, thoughtful, critics."

"It is through dialogue and mutual effort, through the push and pull, that humanity will achieve great things," he said. "That is what I see in Magnifica Humanitas, and it is why I am grateful to his holiness and to the church for taking up this work of discernment."

Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah is pictured ahead of Pope Leo XIV's presentation of "Magnifica Humanitas," at the Vatican's Synod Hall May 25, 2026. Focused on the rise of artificial intelligence, the encyclical is the first of Pope Leo XIV's papacy. (OSV News/Reuters/Yara Nardi)

Olah said that the church's voice is needed to "ensure the gains of AI are shared globally," since its development is "concentrated in a handful of wealthy nations," echoing themes from the encyclical.

"It is an unsolved problem, and it is the kind of problem the church has historically refused to let the world ignore," he said, calling on religious communities, civil society, scholars and governments to "take this seriously, to look closely, and to push events in a better direction."

"We need informed critics who will tell the labs when we are failing," he said. "We need moral voices that the incentives cannot bend."

Anthropic has engaged with the Vatican in ethical considerations for AI, even listing three...