Pope Leo XIV issued an open letter warning “all people of good will” against the alarming spread of AI and the disruptive moral, political, economic and social justice implications of allowing this technology to run amok, a disturbing reality that “challenges the moral conscience of our time.” In a symbolic move, the pontiff presented his first encyclical – called Magnifica humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence – along with Christopher Olah, co-founder of AI developer Anthropic, highlighting how the new technology must operate within spiritual guardrails. While Leo does not reject technology outright, stating that AI can be beneficial if guided ethically, he notes that the “pursuit of greater profits cannot justify choices that systematically sacrifice jobs.” And he calls on leaders to limit the damage that its rapid spread of misinformation is having on children, immigrants and vulnerable groups. We must push back against constructing a new “Tower of Babel,” writes the Pope, an imperative motivated by the “exercise of responsible care for the human family.”