AS ARTIFICIAL intelligence (AI) reshapes economies and societies, a Vatican official said every technical and economic decision should undergo spiritual judgement to ensure innovation serves public welfare.
Msgr. Giuseppe Trentadue, counsellor of the Apostolic Nunciature, said technological advances must be directed toward justice and participation rather than benefiting only a small group of powerful interests.
“Every technical or economic decision should include spiritual discernment and be an opportunity for assessing whether the advances in AI are promoting justice and participation or concentrating wealth and power in the hands of a select few,” Trentadue said during this year’s Pope’s Day Mass at the Manila Cathedral on Monday, June 29.
Trentadue was referencing Pope Leo XIV’s vision for addressing the ethical challenges posed by AI and other emerging technologies.
The monsignor said the Church views economic freedom not as an absolute right, but something that must always serve the common good and uphold human dignity.
Trentadue explained that Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, builds on Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum which defended workers’ rights and addressed the social consequences of the industrial revolution. He said the Church is now applying that same social teaching to a new industrial revolution shaped by AI and other emerging technologies.
“The power and prevalence of emerging technologies are interwoven into the fabric of daily life, shaping decision-making processes and deeply affecting the collective imagination,” Trentadue explained, adding that such a circumstance prods Catholics to seek wisdom from God.
He also urged the faithful to look beyond the conveniences of modern technology by examining digital supply chains, labor conditions and systems that profit from manipulation and war.
“We must strive for a world in which technology is at the service of humanity and not humanity at the service of technology,” Trentadue said.
The Pope’s Day Mass coincided with the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. During the observance, Catholics pray for the pope, the successor of St. Peter and the vicar of Christ. F
