"Magnifica humanitas", the first encyclical of Leo XIV. Publication on 25 May
At the presentation also the Pope, which was unique, and the co-founder of Anthropic
Pope Leo XIV will in a few days promulgate his first Encyclical Letter, entitled 'Magnifica Humanitas', on the care of the human person in the age of artificial intelligence, and probably in strong continuity with the previous pontificate. The Encyclical Letter bears the Pope's signature on 15 May, the 135th anniversary of the promulgation of Pope Leo XIII's Encyclical Letter "Rerum Novarum". The presentation of the document will take place on 25 May 2026, at 11.30 a.m., in the Synod Hall, in the presence of Leo XIV himself, which is unheard of for a pontiff to participate in person in a presentation of a document, no matter how important. The Pope is expected to make a speech and then impart a blessing.
Present were Cardinals Parolin, Fernandez and Czerny
Joining him will be Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; Cardinal Michael Czerny, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development; Anna Rowlands, Political Theology, including the Social Doctrine of the Church, and Theological Ethics of Human Migration, Department of Theology and Religion, Durham University, UK; Christopher Olah, co-founder of Anthropic (USA) and head of research on the interpretability of artificial intelligence; Leocadie Lushombo i.t., Political Theology and Catholic Social Thought, Jesuit School of Theology / Santa Clara University, California. The conclusions are entrusted to the Cardinal Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin.
The first document of the pontificate was the exhortation "Dilexi Te"
The Vatican Publishing Bookshop (Lev) has published the cover of Leo's first encyclical on its social profiles: the cover shows the Pope in profile, with folded hands, praying. Formally, this is not the first document he has signed since his election a year ago (although it is certainly the most important and destined to mark the line of the pontificate. Pope Leo XIV's first official document was in fact the Apostolic Exhortation 'Dilexi te'. Signed on 4 October 2025 (memorial of St Francis of Assisi), the text was conceived in total continuity with Francis: Leo in fact completed and made his own a project that Bergoglio had begun in the last months of his life, dedicated to the Church's care for the poor.
