Pope Leo XIV and the AI Encyclical: Positioning the Vatican as Moral Voice for the Global South

In his first eight months as pope, Leo XIV has shown a remarkable gift for reconciliation. He prayed alongside the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, helping the Church "breathe with both lungs" after centuries of division. He welcomed Britain's King Charles III to the Vatican, and together they prayed in the Sistine Chapel—the first time a pope and British monarch have done so since the Reformation. His papacy has been defined by peace-building, spiritual renewal, and an insistent return to Christ as the center of the Church's mission.

Yet even as Leo XIV has focused on these foundational issues of unity, something else is taking shape. In 2026, he will release a major social encyclical on artificial intelligence—a document that will address one of the defining questions of our era. This encyclical will be the first comprehensive papal teaching on AI from a pope with the vigor, geographic positioning, and lived experience with the Global South to make it consequential.

We propose that this encyclical become the Vatican's formal engagement with the AI Middle Way Coalition—not merely as a document that addresses AI ethics in general, but as a specific endorsement of the Middle Way as a third path between US market-driven and Chinese state-controlled approaches to AI development. In doing so, Pope Leo XIV can position the Vatican as the moral conscience of a movement that genuinely serves the Global South's right to self-determination in shaping its own technological future.

This is not a ceremonial role. It is an opportunity for the papacy to shape how billions of people in the poorest regions of the world will experience technology in the decade ahead.

The Inheritance and the Moment

Pope Francis prepared the Church for this moment. Between 2023 and 2025, he made artificial intelligence a central theme of his papacy. He addressed the G7 directly on AI, calling for technology "aimed at the good of every human being" with ethical "inspiration". He called for AI to "serve our best human potential and our highest aspirations, not compete with them". He published Vatican guidelines on AI ethics and convened academies to develop theological frameworks for AI governance.

But Francis operated under constraints of age and a closing pontificate. He could articulate principles, call for international treaties, and warn of dangers. What the Church needed—and what only Leo XIV can provide—is a pope with the energy and standing to embed those principles into the actual institutional structures of global AI governance as they crystallize right now, in the 2025-2027 window when decisions lock in.

Leo XIV inherits Francis's theological framework. But he brings something Francis did not: lived missionary experience in Peru as bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023, working directly alongside communities with minimal access to technology and maximum vulnerability to external decisions made in distant centers of power. He is not speaking about the Global South from an abstract distance. He has walked with its people, ministered to them, and understood viscerally what it means when development happens to them rather than with them.

This is not academic knowledge. This is pastoral knowledge.

The Historical Parallel: Leo XIII and the Right to Participate

There is a profound historical parallel worth dwelling on. In 1891, Pope Leo XIII issued Rerum Novarum, the encyclical that became the foundation of Catholic social teaching for the next century. Written in response to the industrial revolution's devastation of workers, Leo XIII did something unprecedented: he broke from centuries of Church teaching that emphasized accepting one's station and turned instead to champion workers' right to participate in the systems that shaped their lives.

Rerum Novarum was not a radical document by modern standards. But at the time, it was extraordinary. The pope could have retreated into purely spiritual matters. Instead, he insisted that workers had a voice—that decisions affecting their lives could not be made without their participation.

The parallels to our moment are unmistakable. We are experiencing a technological revolution as consequential as the industrial one. Artificial intelligence will reshape labor, opportunity, wealth, and power globally. The question is not whether this happens, but whether those affected by AI—particularly the 4.5 billion people in the Global South—have a voice in decisions about its development and deployment.

This is fundamentally a question of participation and self-determination. The Global South did not choose to have AI systems designed without its input, trained on data that may not reflect its values, deployed according to priorities set in Silicon Valley or Beijing. Yet these decisions are being made now, in this 2025-2027 window, and they will largely be irreversible once locked in.

Pope Leo XIV has the opportunity to do for AI what Leo XIII did for labor: to place the full moral authority of the papacy behind the principle that those affected by technological change have a right to participate in decisions about that technology. And to insist that the Global South is not a market to be served by external powers, but a community with agency, voice, and the right to shape its own technological future.

Why Leo XIV Is Positioned for This Role

The new pope brings several converging strengths to an emerging role in AI governance:

First-generation perspective on technology and society. Unlike many Church leaders, Leo XIV came to the priesthood after secular work—he has a lived understanding of technology not as an abstract threat or promise, but as something embedded in human communities and relationships. His missionary work in Peru was not conducted in a village untouched by technology, but in a real region grappling with questions of access, power, and self-determination in relation to technology.

American credibility and critical distance. Leo XIV is the first American pope, yet he is not embedded in American technological systems or ideologies. He can speak to American audiences with cultural authority while maintaining prophetic distance from Silicon Valley assumptions. This is invaluable. The Global South needs a voice that can engage the United States credibly without being captured by its interests—or by the opposite impulse to simply resist it.

Pastoral understanding of the poor's actual circumstances. Unlike development experts or policy analysts, Leo XIV has ministered directly to communities in the Global South. He is not speaking about poverty from observation or study. He has sat with poor families, heard their hopes for their children, and understood the weight of decisions made by distant powers. This authenticity cannot be manufactured or learned from books.

Independence and moral standing. The Vatican maintains diplomatic relationships across all regions and power blocs without being beholden to any. It is neutral territory. The pope's voice carries weight in secular governance forums in a way few religious leaders' voices do—precisely because the Church is perceived as independent from economic and political power centers.

Openness to this moment. Most importantly, Leo XIV is at the beginning of his pontificate, with the vigor and bandwidth to shape new initiatives. He has not yet staked out his territory on AI, which means he can do so in a way that serves genuine justice rather than inherited institutional positions. His forthcoming encyclical on AI is not predetermined. It is an opportunity to shape what the Vatican will say and do on this question for the coming decades.

The Encyclical as an Opportunity: Channeling the Middle Way

The vehicle for Vatican engagement with AI governance is already in motion: the social encyclical on artificial intelligence that Pope Leo XIV is preparing for release in 2026. This is the perfect opportunity to position the Vatican explicitly as a moral voice for the AI Middle Way Coalition—and to shape how the Global South relates to AI development for years to come.

Concretely, the encyclical could:

Articulate a third path. The encyclical could explicitly name and endorse the AI Middle Way as an alternative to both US market-driven and Chinese state-controlled approaches. Rather than accepting the false binary that the Global South must choose between Silicon Valley and Beijing, the pope could argue theologically and strategically for a genuine third path rooted in subsidiarity, human dignity, and the right of communities to shape their own technological futures.

Center the Global South's voice and agency. The encyclical could insist that AI governance frameworks must include meaningful participation from Global South nations and communities—not consultation, but genuine participation in decision-making. It could argue that the moral legitimacy of any AI governance system depends on whether those affected by AI have authentic voice in its design.

Affirm self-determination. The pope could apply Catholic social teaching's principle of subsidiarity directly to AI: decisions about AI should be made at the most local level possible, with communities retaining authority over technology that affects their lives. This is not isolationism—it is insisting on the right of peoples to participate in determining their own technological future.

Position the Vatican as a convener. The encyclical could signal that the Vatican intends to be a space where genuine dialogue on AI governance can occur—not captured by powerful states or corporations, but anchored in principles of human dignity and the common good. The Vatican could host ongoing conversations bringing together the Coalition, Global South representatives, and others committed to justice-centered AI governance.

Endorse specific mechanisms. The encyclical could name and support concrete initiatives—like the AI Middle Way Coalition itself—that embody the principles the Church is advocating for. This would not be the Vatican claiming credit or control, but lending its moral authority to movements that align with Church teaching on justice, human dignity, and the rights of the poor.

The Moment Is Right: AI as an Emerging Priority

There are signs that AI governance is becoming a genuine priority for Leo XIV—not something inherited from Francis, but a focus he is choosing to take on. The fact that he is preparing a major social encyclical on AI in his first full year as pope signals that this is not peripheral to his vision. Social encyclicals are reserved for the most urgent questions facing humanity.

Moreover, Leo XIV is doing this work at precisely the right moment. The January 15, 2026 launch of the AI Middle Way Coalition at Chulalongkorn University represents an institutional moment when a papal voice endorsing the Middle Way approach could amplify its reach and credibility exponentially. The Coalition needs moral authority. The Global South needs a voice that insists on its right to participate in determining its own technological future. The Church needs to demonstrate that it is not retreating into tradition but advancing ancient principles of justice into the frontier of our time.

The pope has not yet committed to any specific role. But the encyclical is his opportunity to do so—to shape not just Catholic teaching, but global conversations about how AI should serve the Global South, not colonize it.

Why This Matters for the Middle Way: The Vatican as Moral Anchor

The AI Middle Way Coalition's strength lies in its credibility as a genuinely alternative path—not captured by US market logic or Chinese state control. Its weakness, currently, is that it lacks a universally respected moral voice that can anchor its work in something transcendent to geopolitics and economics.

Pope Leo XIV through his encyclical can provide that voice. An encyclical that names the Middle Way as a path rooted in human dignity, subsidiarity, and the rights of the poor would signal to the Global South that this is not another power play by wealthy nations, but a genuine effort to center justice and self-determination. It would give moral weight to the Coalition's insistence that AI governance must include Global South participation. It would position the Vatican not as a distant bureaucracy, but as a moral force committed to ensuring that technology serves the dignity of the poorest billions.

For the Coalition, a papal encyclical endorsing its framework would:

• Elevate the Coalition's standing in conversations with national governments across the Global South

• Signal to philanthropic and development institutions that justice-centered AI governance is a priority

• Provide theological and ethical grounding that transcends political divisions

• Create space for religious leaders of all faiths to support the Middle Way approach

For Pope Leo XIV, the benefit is equally clear. It allows him to exercise prophetic leadership on a question that will define the coming decade. It demonstrates that the Vatican is not retreating into tradition but advancing ancient principles of justice into new frontiers. It fulfills his evident commitment—shown by his choice to prepare a social encyclical on AI—to ensure that technology serves the common good and the dignity of the poor.

The Opportunity: Shaping the Encyclical

This is an invitation that aligns with what Pope Leo XIV has already committed to: preparing a major social encyclical on artificial intelligence. The opportunity is to ensure that encyclical explicitly engages with the AI Middle Way Coalition framework—and that the Vatican positions itself as a moral voice endorsing justice-centered AI governance for the Global South.

The timing is critical. The January 15, 2026 launch of the AI Middle Way Coalition at Chulalongkorn University is the perfect moment for the Vatican to signal its commitment to this work. Whether through a papal statement, an address from a Vatican official, or coordination between the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and the Coalition, the Vatican can use this launch to demonstrate that it sees the Middle Way as aligned with the Church's teaching on justice, human dignity, and the rights of peoples to shape their own futures.

Subsequent to the launch, as Pope Leo XIV develops his encyclical on AI, the Coalition and others committed to justice-centered AI governance should ensure that the pope and his advisors understand the Middle Way framework, hear from Global South voices about what they need from the Vatican, and understand how Church teaching applies to this specific moment.

In doing so, the Vatican would not only strengthen the Coalition. It would demonstrate that the Church's social teaching is living—that it evolves to address new frontiers, that it stands with the powerless against technological colonization, and that it insists technology must serve the common good and the dignity of the poor.

The pope has shown his capacity for reconciliation, for building bridges, for listening. The encyclical he is preparing is his opportunity to do for artificial intelligence and the Global South what Pope Leo XIII did for workers: to place the Church's full moral authority behind the principle that those affected by technological change must have a voice in determining that technology's future.

The moment is now. The invitation is to help shape what may be the most important papal teaching on technology and justice in the coming generation.