What does it mean to safeguard our humanity? That question is at the heart of Pope Leo XIV’s much anticipated first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence,” released May 25. The following are some key things to know about this weighty papal letter.

Pope Leo XIV called for vigilance as he spoke at the Vatican press conference May 25 to present his first encyclical on artificial intelligence, saying his conversations with industry leaders — including “very troubling voices” who warned of autonomous weapons systems beyond effective human governance — had led him to the conviction that AI “needs to be disarmed.”

Just as it did in the industrial age, the Catholic Church is called to discern the rapidly evolving advances of digital technology in the light of the Gospel, said Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state.

Here are 10 quotes that provide a glimpse into what the encyclical contains:

Pope Leo XIV published his landmark encyclical on artificial intelligence “Magnifica Humanitas” May 25, comparing the attempt to build an AI future that excludes God to the “Tower of Babel” and underlining the need to safeguard human dignity as it is “threatened by new forms of dehumanization.”

Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, which addresses artificial intelligence, is “a powerful reminder that no technology can replace a child of God, and all technology should be placed at the service of helping humanity thrive,” said Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City.

Pope Leo XIV’s widely anticipated first encyclical on artificial intelligence is here, and it offers a clear path forward to one of the most pressing challenges of our age. But the 42,000-word “Magnifica Humanitas” also serves as a formal launching point for Pope Leo’s vision for contemporary application of Catholic social teaching.

At a time when digital technologies are developing at a rapid and unpredictable pace, every single person must decide if she or he will be: a passive bystander; an unhelpful commentator; an avaricious architect of a new “Tower of Babel”; or a patient, hope-filled builder of a “civilization of love,” Pope Leo XIV said in his first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas.”

Pope Leo XIV celebrated Pentecost by highlighting the role of the Holy Spirit in his repeated calls for peace in recent months, saying the spirit also guides the Church to truth amid a world marked by war, division and ideological fragmentation.

Pope Leo XIV advanced the sainthood causes of one woman and five men, including the Maronite patriarch who played an integral role in the establishment of modern-day Lebanon.