What Pope Leo XIV’s First Encyclical Says About the Power of AI
What Pope Leo XIV’s First Encyclical Says About the Power of AI
教宗利奥十四世的首道通谕如何看待人工智能的力量
An algorithm decides what we see, another filters what we read, and still others enter into the processes that govern work, information, and collective choices. In the encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, the first signed by Pope Leo XIV and published on May 25, artificial intelligence is not viewed as just another technology; it is part of the invisible infrastructure of our contemporary daily lives.
算法决定了我们看到什么，另一种算法过滤了我们阅读的内容，还有其他算法介入了管理工作、信息和集体选择的流程。在 5 月 25 日发布、由教宗利奥十四世签署的首道通谕《Magnifica Humanitas》（宏伟的人性）中，人工智能并未被仅仅视为一种普通技术；它是我们当代日常生活隐形基础设施的一部分。
But the text is not conceived as an exclusively technological reflection. Pope Leo XIV places the issue of AI within the tradition of the social doctrine of the Catholic Church and directly invokes—while updating it—the Rerum Novarum of Pope Leo XIII (published on May 15, 1891) in the year of its 135th anniversary. That encyclical addressed the question of labor at the height of the industrial revolution in the late 19th century.
但这篇文本并非仅仅是对技术的反思。教宗利奥十四世将人工智能议题置于天主教会社会训导的传统之中，并直接援引了教宗利奥十三世于 1891 年 5 月 15 日发布的《新事》（Rerum Novarum）通谕——今年恰逢该通谕发布 135 周年，并对其进行了时代性的更新。那份通谕探讨了 19 世纪末工业革命鼎盛时期的劳工问题。
If the “res novae” of that time were factories, labor, and industrial capitalism, today the new issues revolve around digital platforms, algorithms, data, and automation systems that are reshaping power, the economy, and social relations. For this reason, the encyclical does not present itself as a technical text about innovation, but rather as an attempt to interpret the digital transformation in light of human dignity and the common good. Technology, the Pope writes, is not evil in itself; on the contrary, it belongs to human history and creativity. But the current situation is different in both scale and depth: “Never has humanity had so much power over itself,” the text observes, describing technologies that now shape decision-making processes, the collective imagination, and social life in an increasingly pervasive way.
如果说当时的“新事”（res novae）是工厂、劳工和工业资本主义，那么今天的新议题则围绕着数字平台、算法、数据和自动化系统展开，它们正在重塑权力、经济和社会关系。因此，这份通谕并非一份关于创新的技术性文本，而是试图从人类尊严和共同利益的角度来解读数字化转型。教宗写道，技术本身并非邪恶；相反，它属于人类历史和创造力的一部分。但当前的形势在规模和深度上都与以往不同：“人类从未对自己拥有过如此大的权力，”文中指出，并描述了那些如今正以日益渗透的方式塑造决策过程、集体想象力和社会生活的技术。
It is from this point that Robert Francis Prevost chose to begin: from the growing concentration of power exercised through systems that are increasingly opaque yet increasingly decisive, and from the question that runs throughout the encyclical: What remains of human dignity, the protection of truth, work, social justice, and peace when decisions are transferred into algorithmic logic?
罗伯特·弗朗西斯·普雷沃斯特（Robert Francis Prevost）正是从这一点出发：从通过日益不透明却又日益具有决定性的系统所行使的权力集中，以及贯穿通谕始终的问题出发：当决策被转移到算法逻辑中时，人类尊严、真理的保护、工作、社会正义与和平还剩下什么？
Disarming Technology
解除技术的武装
In the encyclical there is an expression that becomes the key to interpreting the entire scenario: “disarming technology.” The meaning is far removed from any attempt to slow the development of artificial intelligence or to deny its potentially transformative impact for good. For Robert Francis Prevost, disarming AI means preventing it from becoming a form of power capable of dominating human existence.
通谕中有一个词汇成为了解读整个局面的关键：“解除技术的武装”（disarming technology）。其含义绝非试图减缓人工智能的发展，也非否认其在向善方面的潜在变革性影响。对于罗伯特·弗朗西斯·普雷沃斯特而言，解除人工智能的武装意味着防止它成为一种能够支配人类生存的权力形式。
For Leo XIV, the point is not the technology itself, then, but its organization and application. AI, the pope writes, is part of a global race today to the “highest-performing algorithm” and the “largest data center,” where competitive advantage also becomes geopolitical. In this context, a few players concentrate digital infrastructure, data, and computing capacity, which affects information, economics, and even democracy.
对于利奥十四世来说，重点不在于技术本身，而在于其组织和应用。教宗写道，人工智能是当今全球争夺“最高性能算法”和“最大数据中心”竞赛的一部分，在这种竞赛中，竞争优势也演变成了地缘政治优势。在此背景下，少数参与者垄断了数字基础设施、数据和计算能力，这影响了信息、经济，甚至民主。
Disarming means breaking this equation between technical power and the right to govern. “As happens with every major technological turning point, AI tends above all to increase the power of those who already possess economic resources and access to data,” the pontiff explains.
解除武装意味着打破技术力量与治理权之间的等式。教宗解释说：“正如每一次重大技术转折点所发生的那样，人工智能往往首先会增强那些已经拥有经济资源和数据访问权限的人的权力。”
In explicit terms, the encyclical states that it is not enough merely to regulate technology: It must be taken away from monopolies, made transparent and open to challenge—that is, made “habitable” by a plurality of actors. Above all, AI must be prevented from becoming an instrument of economic, political, or military domination by a select few. This is not a moral metaphor: It is a call to prevent the logic of competition from transforming a shared infrastructure into a system of control.
通谕明确指出，仅仅监管技术是不够的：必须将其从垄断中夺回，使其透明并接受质疑——也就是说，使其能够被多元化的参与者所“居住”。最重要的是，必须防止人工智能成为少数人进行经济、政治或军事统治的工具。这并非道德隐喻：这是呼吁防止竞争逻辑将共享的基础设施转变为一种控制系统。
Truth Within the Systems That Select Reality
选择现实的系统中的真理
If technology concentrates power, one of the first concrete effects concerns the way in which collective truth is formed. The encyclical addresses the issue of disinformation, but in a decidedly deeper way because perceived reality, or rather experience, is increasingly filtered by systems that decide what to show and what to hide.
如果技术集中了权力，那么首要的具体影响之一就是集体真理形成的方式。通谕探讨了虚假信息问题，但方式更为深刻，因为感知的现实，或者说经验，正日益被那些决定展示什么、隐藏什么的系统所过滤。
It is not just about fake news or fake content in various forms. The problem is that platforms and algorithms select information based on criteria of maximizing attention and engagement. In other words, what becomes visible is not necessarily what is most true, but what works best in generating reactions. In this way, truth does not disappear, but it becomes dependent on opaque systems that influence opinions, perceptions, and collective choices without it always being clear how.
这不仅仅关乎假新闻或各种形式的虚假内容。问题在于，平台和算法是基于最大化注意力和参与度的标准来选择信息的。换句话说，可见的内容不一定是最真实的，而是最能引发反应的内容。这样一来，真理并没有消失，但它变得依赖于那些不透明的系统，这些系统在不为人知的情况下影响着舆论、认知和集体选择。
This is why the encyclical insists on a very concrete cultural and educational responsibility: to train people capable of recognizing these mechanisms and not to entrust the construction of public judgment only to digital infrastructures that respond to market or power logics.
这就是为什么通谕坚持强调一种非常具体的文化和教育责任：培养能够识别这些机制的人，不要将公众判断的构建仅仅托付给那些响应市场或权力逻辑的数字基础设施。
Pope Leo XIV signs the Magnifica Humanitas in the Apostolic Palace on May 25, 2026, in Vatican City. Photograph: Simone Risoluti/Getty Images 教宗利奥十四世于 2026 年 5 月 25 日在梵蒂冈宗座宫签署《Magnifica Humanitas》。摄影：Simone Risoluti/Getty Images
Work as a Fault Line
作为断层线的工作
The same dynamic runs through the world of work, and it is one of the most concrete points of the encyclical. Artificial intelligence is described not only as automation, but as a force that can redefine who works, how they work, and with what margins of autonomy.
同样的动态也贯穿于工作世界，这是通谕中最具体的要点之一。人工智能不仅被描述为自动化，还被描述为一种能够重新定义谁在工作、如何工作以及拥有多大自主权的力量。
In the text, the Pope speaks explicitly about the risk of a “social calamity” related to technological unemployment, when innovation is driven primarily by cost-cutting and increased profits. In this scenario, many activities may be replaced or emptied of human content, with workers reduced to repetitive or rigidly controlled functions.
在文中，教宗明确谈到了与技术性失业相关的“社会灾难”风险，即当创新主要由削减成本和增加利润驱动时。在这种情况下，许多活动可能会被取代或被剥离人类内容，工人沦为重复性或受到严格控制的功能性角色。
The encyclical also goes into detail about new forms of control: automated surveillance, fragmentation of tasks, and loss of a sense of autonomy. It is not only the loss of jobs that is of concern, but the transformation of work into something less human, less creative, and therefore less free.
通谕还详细阐述了新的控制形式：自动化监控、任务碎片化以及自主感的丧失。令人担忧的不仅是失业，还有工作本身正变得不再那么人性化、不再那么具有创造性，因此也变得不再那么自由。