Pope Leo XIV moves faster than governments to issue AI guidelines amid crisis of truth

The pope moves to police AI

Why it matters: The Holy See is moving faster than most other legacy institutions to shape rules and guardrails in verifying reality, with urgency that's unfolding amid unusual geopolitical and digital clashes. * The Vatican has stepped up cybersecurity partnerships and AI oversight efforts, blending defense with diplomacy and ethics. * It has implemented formal AI guidelines and monitoring structures inside Vatican City. * Church leaders are increasingly warning about a "crisis of truth" driven by AI-generated content, something the late Pope Francis addressed before his passing. Zoom in: In February, Leo XIV told priests not to use AI to write homilies or to seek "likes" on social media platforms like TikTok, per the National Catholic Reporter. * "To give a true homily is to share faith," and AI "will never be able to share faith," the pope said during a question-and-answer session with clergy from the Diocese of Rome. * The Vatican last year also issued one of the world's first state-level AI frameworks, requiring systems to be ethical, transparent and human-centered. * The policy explicitly states technology must "never overtake or replace human beings" and must serve human dignity. The guidelines also prohibit AI uses that could manipulate people, discriminate or threaten security, and require safeguards around data and institutional integrity. State of play: The push has fueled speculation -- especially online -- that the Vatican could build a kind of "truth engine," a system to authenticate information or arbitrate reality. * There's no public evidence that such a tool exists. * But the idea reflects something real: the Vatican is emerging as a moral and institutional counterweight to AI-driven misinformation, even as it moves cautiously on the technology itself. What they're saying: "Insofar as (AI) promotes and uplifts humans, it's good. But it also has the potential for degrading human dignity," Thomas Ryan, a theology professor at Loyola University New Orleans, tells Axios. * Ryan said the Vatican is concerned about what AI is doing to humans and to creation, like the divide between the haves and have-nots. * "Obviously, they're very worried about fake news ... the degree of faking people's voices and videos has increased exponentially," Andrew Chesnut, Virginia Commonwealth University's Catholic studies chair, tells Axios. * Chesnut said the Vatican's approach is cautious and a deliberate effort to set limits despite the buzz. The bottom line: The Vatican can't control AI, but it's trying to shape who controls truth in an AI-driven world.

Want to Get AI and Cybersecurity Right? Consider Following the Pope's Example

The pope is working quickly to take a moral -- and policy-driven -- stance on AI. Moving faster than most major governments, the leader of the Catholic Church has ramped up partnerships in cybersecurity, and even released a formal set of guidelines to govern AI. In so doing, the Holy See is establishing itself as a steward of reality in an increasingly confusing digital world filled with deep fakes, Axios reported recently. The moves follow warnings from the late Pope Francis that AI could exacerbate an ongoing "crisis of truth." Despite having assumed his role less than a year ago, Pope Leo XIV has already made his position on AI abundantly clear. His messaging for the upcoming 60th annual World Day of Social Communications on May 17 is all about protecting human dignity, according to Vatican News. "The task laid before us is not to stop digital innovation, but rather to guide it and to be aware of its ambivalent nature. It is up to each of us to raise our voice in defence of human persons, so that we can truly assimilate these tools as allies," Pope Leo said in a statement released earlier this year.