On a sunny spring day in Rome, French Dominican Father Eric Salobier led a special delegation through the crowded St. Peter's Square toward Pope Leo XIV. Among those accompanying them were representatives from Meta, Google and Amazon. The topic of their trip was "Child Protection in the Age of Artificial Intelligence." The meeting with the pope itself was brief, but the subsequent closed-door meeting at the French embassy to the Holy See in central Rome lasted several hours.
During the lengthy meeting, Vatican Communications Minister Paolo Ruffini came face to face with representatives from technology companies to debate a central question that is shaping the young pontificate of Leo XIV: How should the Catholic Church, one of the world's oldest moral authorities, judge the cutting-edge technologies that Silicon Valley is building?
The gathering on April 29 was the latest in a series of meetings. In the view of several participants, the meetings overall constituted a "silent lobbying" by the technology industry ahead of the release of Leo XIV's first encyclical. This official papal document, expected to be released on Monday, will systematically elaborate on the Catholic Church’s position on artificial intelligence.
For years, Silicon Valley has been trying to convince governments and the public that artificial intelligence can be developed within a "responsible" framework. Now, this lobbying front has extended into the Vatican. In recent months, representatives from the technology community have traveled frequently to Rome to meet with Holy See officials involved in relevant discussions, deliberately portraying themselves as partners in the "ethical development of artificial intelligence." Their voices have reached the Vatican’s decision-making circles through embassy activities in various countries, small-scale discussions, and Catholic intermediaries with close ties to the technology community.
The weight of Leo XIV's first encyclical makes all this extraordinary. The document, expected to be read publicly by the pope himself on Monday, was drafted with input from cardinals, experts and the business community, as all parties wait to see how the Catholic Church will evaluate a technology that is reshaping the global economy, workplaces and every aspect of daily life. Sarah El Airy, the French government's high commissioner for children, who participated in the April event, believes that the encyclical's impact may reach far beyond the Vatican itself. She compared it with the encyclical issued by Leo XIII in 1891 that defined workers' rights and laid the foundation for the church's social teachings. She believed that the new document may also provide an overall perspective on "how to organize the new industrial revolution and the development of artificial intelligence" and provide policy inspiration for many countries.
The image of Leo XIV and the “AI Pope”
From the beginning of his accession to the throne, Leo XIV has continuously released signals: Technology, especially artificial intelligence, will become one of the core issues during his term of office. In his first address to the College of Cardinals, he publicly admitted that he chose the papal name "Leo" as a deliberate tribute to Leo XIII, who was known for his defense of human dignity, with particular concern for the plight of workers. Leo XIV said he would dedicate his teachings to "responding to another industrial revolution and to the development of artificial intelligence."
The new pope's public image is also marked by the times. During his first Mass after being elected, when he raised his hands to celebrate his election, the cuffs of his cassock inadvertently slipped down, revealing the Apple Watch on his wrist, which attracted media attention.
According to current arrangements, when Leo XIV officially issues the encyclical on Monday, he is expected to be flanked by Christopher Orlacher, the co-founder of the American artificial intelligence company Anthropic. The company, which has made “security” central to its public image, has clashed with the U.S. Department of Defense over its refusal to use its technology to spy on U.S. citizens or empower autonomous weapons, while deliberately maintaining close ties with the Vatican on the ethics of artificial intelligence.
The interaction between the two parties has long gone beyond this press conference. In January this year, Anthropic released a "charter" for its flagship AI model Claude to define the value principles for future development. The list of external contributors includes Bishop Paul Tiger, secretary-general of the Holy See’s Ministry of Culture and Education and counselor to the Holy See, as well as Father Brendan McGuire, a priest who once worked in engineering in Silicon Valley and is now an important advisor to the Holy See on technology matters.
Roman network
Tiger and McGuire are not the only bridges between the Vatican and the world of technology. Another key figure is French Dominican priest and former investment banker Salo Beale. He is currently an expert in the Holy See and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Humanistic Technology Foundation. The organization is committed to promoting ethical reflection around technology, and its members include technology companies such as Google, Palantir and Qualcomm.
With the assistance of the French Embassy in the Holy See, Salobir promoted the establishment of the "Rome French Artificial Intelligence Observatory" in 2024 to provide a platform for closed-door exchanges between technology companies and Holy See officials. These talks began under Francis and have recently become more frequent under Leo XIV.
The meeting on April 29 was an event under this platform. In addition to Salobir and French government official El Airy, attendees also included: Benoit Tabaka, Director of Institutional Relations and Public Policy for Southern Europe at Google, Claire Charvat, Head of Public Policy for Amazon France, Claudia Trivelino, Public Policy Manager for Italy and Greece at Meta, Adrian Abecassis, Director of Policy Initiatives at the Paris Peace Forum, and Advisor to former French President Macron, etc. The nominal focus of the conference was "Child Protection in the Age of Artificial Intelligence," but the discussion soon expanded to "the profound impact of artificial intelligence on human sociality."
One attendee, who was granted permission to speak anonymously, said there was a long discussion about "the foundations of human development" and the risks posed by a tool that is always online and enables seamless communication. In his view, the atmosphere of the venue was more of a humanistic context than a theological debate. Some technology executives are deeply invested in the topic, while others speak more strictly along their own "policy rhetoric." However, this meeting at least shows that there are some people within the Vatican who do not fundamentally reject technology, but hope to put technology "on the track of serving humanity."
After the meeting, the participants drafted a summary memorandum and submitted it to Clara Schapaz, representative of the French Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Affairs, in order to provide a reference for France’s digital policy discussions under the G7 framework.
Washington also took action
It’s not just the tech industry trying to influence the Vatican’s stance on artificial intelligence. The process of drafting the encyclical has also attracted attention in Washington, despite growing tensions between the Trump administration and Leo XIV. In April this year, Trump publicly criticized "the pope who criticized the President of the United States" and said that he was "not a fan of his."
But behind this public diplomatic friction, U.S. officials are still trying to maintain channels for dialogue with the Holy See on artificial intelligence issues. In early May, the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See, together with the representative offices of Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan and Taiwan to the Holy See, held a series of activities with the theme of artificial intelligence and labor.
One of the attendees was George Osborne, the former British Chancellor of the Exchequer and current head of global external affairs at U.S. technology giant OpenAI. He held a conversation with Bishop Tiger on "Future Workers and the Power of Artificial Intelligence," including the risk that artificial intelligence could exacerbate inequality. Speaking at one of the U.S. embassy events, Noam Uuchtman, a researcher at the London School of Economics, noted that such contacts are aimed at least in part at showing the Vatican that there are “individuals and companies that view AI ethically.”
However, the fact that the Vatican provides a platform for business ethics discussion does not mean that political leaders will unconditionally accept the conclusions of Leo XIV in the encyclical. U.S. Vice President and Catholic J.D. Vance publicly stated that he would not regard the Pope’s encyclical on artificial intelligence as “absolute truth.” He acknowledged at the White House press conference that when the pope issues an encyclical on artificial intelligence, it will obviously "have some impact" and it will "certainly contain a lot of insights," some of which he will agree with and some of which he may not, but it "will certainly be a very important document."
A document "to be written to history"
Anticipation is mixed with caution before the final text of the encyclical is released. After many months of embassy events, private meetings and external submissions, those trying to influence the Vatican's thinking can now only wait to see which arguments Leo XIV will adopt and which propositions will be included in this papal document.
A person close to the Vatican and involved in the writing said the encyclical "is in any case a text for the long term." In the Catholic tradition, the principle of the Church is "never to withdraw what it has written." In other words, no matter how the game between Silicon Valley, national governments and the Vatican evolves, the encyclical on artificial intelligence to be issued by Leo XIV will become a benchmark text for many years and even decades in the coming years as all parties try to understand "how the Church views artificial intelligence."