What to Look For in Pope Leo XIV’s First Social Encyclical
Significant portions of the Catholic world eagerly await the first encyclical from Pope Leo XIV. How will Leo define his papacy? What topics will take priority? And what sort of message will he give to the world? An “encyclical” is a letter from a pope to all people of good will that addresses social, moral, or doctrinal teachings. Encyclicals offer guidance and motivation to inspire the people. Social encyclicals, which constitute Catholic Social Teaching (CST), address pressing social issues through papal interventions in public debate. Theologians often describe social encyclicals as a chance for the pope to reflect on the “signs of the times” through the lens of the Catholic intellectual tradition and the moral principles animating CST. Ultimately, those principles are rooted in the gospel message of love.
Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903, serving as pope from 1878-1903) launched Catholic Social Teaching with his momentous document Rerum Novarum offered on May 15, 1891. On the Condition of Work, as it is called in English translations, broke ground by reflecting on the condition of workers during the Industrial Revolution. The pope offered criticisms of both capitalism and socialism while defending the right to private property and the rights of workers to a just wage and reasonable working conditions. The pope elevated the dignity of work and the right for workers to have and raise a family. Many of the subsequent social encyclicals—like Quadragesimo Anno (After Forty Years) by Pope Pius XI in 1931 and Centesimus Annus (On the Hundredth Year) by Pope St. John Paul II in 1991—celebrate the anniversary of that document. Given this context, we might reasonably expect Pope Leo XIV to offer his social encyclical on or near the 135th anniversary of Rerum Novarum on May 15, 2026.
Pope Leo XIV’s anticipated social encyclical is expected to address the challenges of artificial intelligence. Discussion of the relationship between humans and technology appears in many of the previous social encyclicals. It is a social phenomenon with so much promise but inspires so much fear for how it will change work and the workplace, communication, global trade, war, and the family. The anticipated encyclical will carry forward the tradition to address new challenges with special attention to a number of themes that have animated CST over the last 135 years.
Encyclicals are complex documents. But reading them with an open heart and an eye for the richness of a tradition and the wisdom of the message yields valuable content for discussions not only among theologians but also for families, churches, communities, and states. With that in mind, I thought I would offer a few tips for reading social encyclicals and a glimpse at what we might expect to see in the forthcoming encyclical.
The Encyclical Form
Although each pope offers his own unique approach to encyclical writing, the social tradition settled into a standard format. Social encyclicals tend to begin with a tribute to previous social teaching focusing on the specific issues to be addressed.
If Leo follows his predecessors, he will then turn his attention to describing the state of the world regarding the particular topic or issue. Next, readers can expect a discussion and application of Catholic Social Teaching principles. The encyclical will end with some concrete proposals and a pastoral message. Encyclicals contribute to our collective wisdom for how to live as community. The principles and various themes they discuss offer guidance for day-to-day interpersonal interactions as well as for how to participate as a Catholic and as a “person of good will” at every level of social existence: in our families, our communities, our institutions, our states, and in our “one human family.”
Previous popes reminded the faithful and all people of good will that technology has a place in the moral order, that the progress of science and technology is for humanity and that humanity is not to serve technology, that technological advances ought to be shared among all peoples of the world, and that technology ought not to replace workers—or if some jobs are better done through technological means, then workers who were replaced ought to be trained in fulfilling new jobs that allow them to continue to contribute to community. In addition to adapting these insights to the present moment, readers might expect the current pope to suggest some concrete ways that we can prayerfully engage with one another, how we can ensure human dignity in how we take up AI, and how to live responsibly for the common good with technological advances.
See, Judge, Act
Since the mid-twentieth century, social encyclicals have employed a framing mechanism that often functions as a mantra among Catholics seeking to put CST into action: See, Judge, Act. This framing is evident in the sections of the encyclical just mentioned.
We are called to open our hearts and our eyes in order to see the state of the world. This involves not just taking in information but really understanding the impact of technology. AI is changing the world faster than moral theorists can keep up, but an encyclical aims to frame a social issue in a global manner that calls readers to see what is at stake, who will be impacted, and how the most vulnerable and marginalized among the human family will be affected. We might expect Pope Leo to reflect on how AI is contributing to structures of sin like social inequality or political division. He will certainly discuss some of the effects of AI on work and the workplace. I anticipate Leo’s reflections will highlight the dignity of work and the responsibility each of us has to contribute to the common good. Given the centrality of the family as a social unit according to CST, the letter will discuss the impact of AI on the youth and how technologies of all kinds are impacting the family. The encyclical will likely discuss some of the growing divisions between the wealthy and the poor, both within societies and between nations, and how the risks of AI use in war are too costly for the human community. Pope Leo XIV has not shied away from naming the truth about social problems.
Seeing social issues also acknowledges the positive aspects. The pope might reflect on the many benefits of AI: for instance, the use of AI in medicine, the use of robotic and drone technology to recover explosives and landmines, the creative connections made possible through communication networks, and the valuable use of technology in supporting popular movements for justice.
After reflecting on the state of the world, the pope’s encyclical will likely turn to the judge section. Judging has taken on a rather negative meaning in recent years, but CST uses it not to “pass judgement” but rather “to discern what ought to be done.” Encyclicals provide a sobering look at social issues in order to guide the application of Catholic Social Teaching principles. The four main principles are human dignity, common good, solidarity, and subsidiarity.
How can we use artificial intelligence to promote human dignity? Each human being is a unique created being. No “thing”—be it material object or social process—should ever supplant the human’s place in society, the workplace, or personal relationships.
What does it mean to promote the common good? The common good is so much more than a simple maximization of happiness. According to CST, the common good is the “sum total of those conditions of social living, whereby men are enabled more fully and more readily to achieve their own perfection” (Mater et Magistra §65). In other words, it incorporates the good of each and the good of all, so that everyone can flourish.
Solidarity is a value and a virtue in Catholic Social Teaching. The word is used to indicate that we are all united in “one human family,” but it speaks more concretely to the duty of each of us to all others. The twofold duty of solidarity is to aid those in need of assistance and to change or challenge the conditions and systems that give rise to that need in the first place.
Subsidiarity, which first appeared in CST in 1931, affirms the centrality of the individual within a community and articulates the right order of that relation. Pope Pius XI described it saying,
One should not withdraw from individuals and commit to the community what they can accomplish by their own enterprise and industry. So, too, it is an injustice and at the same time a grave evil and a disturbance of right order to transfer to the larger and higher collectivity functions which can be performed and provided for by lesser and subordinate bodies (Quadragesimo Anno §79).
One way to think of this is that decisions are made and actions taken at the most directly impacted level of social existence with the requisite information.
The third element of the classic mantra, act, means that it is not enough to study the world and to know what the right thing to do is. We also need to act for the common good, in accordance with human dignity, to bring about the changes needed. Moreover, when we act together, in solidarity, we live the right relationships that Catholic Social Teaching promises, we act for social justice.
Conversion, Communion, Solidarity
In the Apostolic Exhortation, Dilexi Te, that Pope Leo XIV issued last fall (finishing what Pope Francis had started), Leo embraced a newer framing using a tripartite revision frequently used by Francis and John Paul II before him: Conversion, Communion, Solidarity. It mirrors See, Judge, Act but with a very important message for our contemporary moment. Rather than looking outward to “see, judge, act,” it encourages a looking inward to see what is in our own hearts, to instantiate the communities we seek to build, and to work together in solidarity.
Conversion means a “change of heart”; it calls on Catholics and all people of good will to look inside their heart and to reject hate and division. When we look into our own hearts we begin to reconcile our beliefs and actions, to identify the elements of our hearts that remain as obstacles to acknowledging the dignity of others, and to enacting the loving welcome to our fellow human beings.
Communion means coming together as equals to build and sustain community. It is a prominent refrain in Catholic thought on migration as it highlights the need for welcome and the spirit of belonging that should animate all of our communities.
Solidarity, as we have seen, is the call to act for and with others to build a better world. It is also a multilayered responsibility: individuals are responsible to one another interpersonally, but each plays a part in a community as well. Communities and institutions participate in the state, and states work to create communion among other states for peaceful international relations. Subsidiarity and solidarity work together to demonstrate the importance of each individual in the effort to create a just world.
The Dignity of Work
The Catholic Social Tradition started with a full-throated defense of the rights of workers and the dignity of work. If Pope Leo XIV offers his encyclical on the 135th anniversary of Rerum Novarum, then readers can expect a thoughtful reflection on the state of work and workers today and in the immediate future with the advent of AI. Importantly, CST holds that economic developments of all kinds are under the control of all humanity; they ought not to be the sole determination of a few people, small groups of people within an industry, or of nations with excessive political or economic power.
CST says that work has a twofold nature: work is about earning a wage, what is called the wage-earner’s property, to provide for comfortable existence for the wage-earner and any family, but it is also about fulfilling a duty to society or contributing to community. On the flip side, communities have a duty to help all adult members find proper employment. Of course, the tradition recognizes that changes in society or progress in a specific industry may make some forms of work no longer needed. In those situations, CST calls for society to provide sufficient work, suitable to the human person and able to support the person and a family, or, when appropriate, technical and professional training for the new work environment. Work helps humans create while developing abilities and personalities, it provides surplus so that humans can practice charity, and it provides a product or service as well as a form of social togetherness that benefits the common good.
This focus on work is a way to say that work is for the worker, not the worker for the work. The tools of industry and the tools of the economic sphere ought never to replace the human worker.
Justice as Right Relationship
These framing devices and central themes help social encyclicals advocate for justice as right relationships. In the case of artificial intelligence, human beings must embrace the right relation to technology. As Pope John XXIII said in 1961 about the developments in science and technology in the twentieth century: “Whatever the progress in technology and economic life, there can be neither justice nor peace in the world, so long as men fail to realize how great is their dignity; for they have been created by God and are his children” (Mater et Magistra §215). A social encyclical on AI will likely emphasize that humanity comes first in the human-technology relation. By maintaining that “right order,” human beings must accept their responsibility to limit and control AI.
The common good also suggests that appropriate limits on the use of AI are needed to ensure that all people are able to participate and flourish. The pope might address AI companies directly, and he will most certainly address the international community. The development and use of lethal autonomous weapons violate all aspects of human dignity and the common good. Similarly, technologies that disrupt the individual’s or family’s ability to take up their responsibility to participate in community and to work are contrary to the common good and the dignity of the human person.
Pope Leo XIV’s earlier exhortation included not only the material poor, but the sick and elderly, the orphan, those who are lonely, those who experience spiritual or moral poverty, those who are socially marginalized and culturally poor, those who lack space or rights or freedom. Each of these—and all of us—will be dramatically impacted by AI. How can we build a world that cares for the poor among us—who are us—while creating a technology that serves the common good and upholds human dignity? We can expect the pope to continue reflections on poverty of all kinds.
The relationship with our common home, the earth or the environment, will also be impacted by artificial intelligence. Pope Francis described in vivid detail the environmental impact of unbridled industry on the poor and on earth others. AI appears to be on a path to making the climate crisis much worse while billionaires profit and the poor are deprived of basic necessities.
Catholic Social Teaching frequently refers to what is called the “universal destination of goods”: God gave the earth to human beings in common. Private property is a natural right, but property is to be used for the common good of all. Readers of Leo’s first social encyclical will surely find a continuation of the call to care for our common home and to avoid harmful practices that worsen the living conditions of the most vulnerable.
Conclusion
Encyclicals tend to be dense documents with a lot of citations to teachings from previous popes and quotations from the Doctors of the Church (people specially designated because of their important theological contributions). The final chapters of social encyclicals tend to turn to spiritual matters. They address the Catholic faithful and the role of the Church in the social message that has been presented. The encyclical will likely make clear that the Church has an important role to play in providing sites for human-to-human encounter, where communities can meet and support each other, where welcome and belonging unite to provide a place for everyone.
Although it might not be immediately evident what or whether the Catholic Church plays a role in the development of AI, the social message provides a hopeful reminder that we are one human family, we are called to take care of our brothers and sisters around the world and in our midst. Popes use encyclicals as opportunities to speak to the world; they affirm individual and social power to make positive changes.
Prayerfully, Catholics and all people of good will await Pope Leo XIV’s message of hope and prayer for the world.
