With the release of his encyclical letter Magnifica Humanitas on May 25, 2026, Pope Leo XIV has signaled that he wants the church to respond to artificial intelligence much as a predecessor, Pope Leo XIII, responded to upheavals during the Industrial Revolution over a century ago. Since the first act of his papacy—choosing his name—the current pope has repeatedly invoked the earlier Leo’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum.