VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Themes of Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical have been leaked: AI, transhumanism, and gender ideology. It will soon be in the hands of Cardinal Fernández.
On January 31, the Italian newspaper Il Giornale revealed that second drafts of the Leo’s upcoming first encyclical were delivered a few days ago. Provisionally titled Magnifica Humanitas (“Magnificent Humanity”), it will address the impact of artificial intelligence, posthumanist theories, and advanced technologies on human dignity, social justice, and labor.
According to Italian journalist Fabio Marchese Ragona, the text will describe the “magnificence of the human person,” especially the uniqueness and value of the human body in an era increasingly shaped by robotics, artificial intelligence, and cybernetic technologies. Vatican officials have clarified that the final decision on the title will rest with Pope Leo XIV once the definitive text is submitted to him.
The drafting process is following established Vatican procedures. An initial version of the document was reviewed several months ago but was returned to the unknown authors for minor corrections. After the second round of revisions, the text is going to be examined now by Cardinal Michael Czerny, S.J., prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
Following his review, the document is scheduled to be submitted to Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, for “theological evaluation and any necessary doctrinal adjustments.” Once these stages are completed, the definitive version will be forwarded to the Secretariat of State for final review before being presented to the Pope for signature.
Czerny also contributed to the revision and officially presented Pope Leo XIV’s first apostolic exhortation, Dilexi Te, a text that had in fact been drafted under Francis’s pontificate.
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The encyclical is expected to include a critical examination of posthumanist and transhumanist theories. The document reportedly stresses that the human body cannot be reduced to a neutral container whose capacities may be indefinitely augmented without ethical consequences.
Particular attention should be devoted to the use of nanotechnologies, genetic engineering, and other tools that may lead to the enhancement or modification of human biological functions. Within the encyclical, these technologies are not rejected outright. The proposed criterion would be that such means should be directed toward improving health and alleviating the suffering of the sick, rather than toward creating hybrid or augmented human beings.
The text also would address the question of gender identity and adopt a firm position against theories that challenge the biological distinction between male and female or that present gender as a purely mutable social construct.
The first magisterial document of Pope Leo XIV, Dilexi Te, turned out to be, contrary to early reports suggesting a possible encyclical, an apostolic exhortation. An encyclical, by contrast, carries greater magisterial weight: it is a letter addressed to all bishops and to the Catholic faithful on significant doctrinal or moral questions, and it falls fully within the Pope’s magisterium, at least in its ordinary form. If confirmed, the choice of an encyclical would therefore place this second intervention of Leo XIV on a more authoritative level.
The first official statement of the Holy See on the phenomenon of AI had already been issued on January 14, 2025, when the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, together with the Dicastery for Culture and Education, published Antiqua et Nova, a note on the relationship between artificial intelligence and human intelligence.
