On Monday, Pope Leo XIV released a book-length consideration of artificial intelligence and its relationship to humanity.

His 42,300-word encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity), is nothing short of astonishing. It may be the best book on AI published this year.

When it dropped on Monday, a holiday in the U.S., I sighed and plunged in. My work with the Transparency Coalition involves a fair amount of literary translation. I turn tech-talk and legislate-ese into concise terms everyone can understand. Latin and theology are not my forte.

The deeper I read, the wider my eyes did gain. This is not a hectoring, scolding priest. This is not an old man shouting at clouds. The Pope Leo of Magnifica is both a man of the soil and an expert fluent in the leading-edge issues around AI.

Set aside for a moment any issues you may have with the Catholic Church. (I have many.) Read the Magnifica for what it offers. I’ve excerpted many of the most compelling sections for Transparency here, and I urge you to dive into the full document when you have the time.

The pope’s overall message: Human beings are not problems to be solved. He urges the powerful to steer AI to serve humanity and the common good. That means “accepting the limits and weakness of humanity without considering them an error to be corrected.”

“In the era of artificial intelligence, when human dignity is threatened by new forms of dehumanization, ours is the pressing duty to remain profoundly human.”

“Technology,” he writes, “should not be considered, in itself, as a force antagonistic to humanity. On the contrary, it has formed part of our history since the beginning as a profoundly human reality, linked to the autonomy and freedom of man.” He notes that “each phase of progress has also revealed the ambiguity of tools that can cause harm when not oriented toward the good.”

“At the root of these problems,” he adds, “lies a technocratic and post-humanist mentality that tends to regard the human person as an object to be manipulated or a resource to be optimized, removing all safeguards against the unchecked pursuit of profit.”

“I consider particularly insidious the [ideology] that suggests that every person must earn or justify his or her own worth, to the point of attributing greater value to those who are more efficient or effective. From this perspective, persons end up being reduced to a means of achieving results, a resource to be used and exploited, and are no longer recognized as a proper end in themselves who should never be instrumentalized. The value of persons, however, does not depend on what they achieve or produce. There are rights that apply to everyone simply by virtue of being human."

A good deal of the Magnifica is taken up with the essential value of work and its connection to the development of a meaningful life.

“Work is not simply an instrument,” he writes; “it expresses and enhances the dignity of our lives.”

“It is a requirement of the human condition, a normal path toward maturity, development and personal fulfillment.”

Work isn’t merely a chore to be dispensed with, or a task valued only inasmuch as it can be optimized for maximum efficiency and profit.

The pope writes: “While AI promises to boost productivity by taking over mundane tasks, it frequently forces workers to adapt to the speed and demands of machines, rather than machines being designed to support those who work.”

“Current approaches to technology can paradoxically de-skill workers, subject them to automated surveillance and relegate them to rigid and repetitive tasks.”

“The need to keep up with the pace of technology can erode workers’ sense of agency and stifle the innovative abilities they are expected to bring to their work.”

The pope calls for a re-orientation of goals, not just in tech but in all work, by designing “systems that are centered on the human person and not solely on performance.”

Work at it best—when not demeaning, harmful, exploitative—encourages each individual to think, move, create, improve, learn, and grow.

He writes of the special importance of meaningful work for young people, who discover through work who they are as individuals and what their place in community might be. “Work is not merely a source of income but a crucial sphere in which identity is formed, friendships and relationships are forged, practical responsibilities are learned and one’s vocation is discerned.”

That doesn’t just pertain to the young. Even as I grow older, I find deep personal meaning and satisfaction in work, as well as a connection to community and an ever-evolving understanding of who I am and who I want to become.

I’m just touching the surface here. Pope Leo takes on the dangers of Big Data turning every human into monetized bits. “When every action — movements, purchases, relationships and preferences — leaves a trace, a new form of power emerges, namely the power to profile, predict and influence behavior, often without individuals being fully aware of it.”

He addresses the peddling of digital addiction brought to light by the recent social media trials: “When business models thrive on human weakness, the person is treated as a means rather than as an end. Those who design or finance such systems bear a moral responsibility that cannot be ignored.” (Looking at you, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, et al.)

He hits the issue of ghost workers, the subject of a recent AI Humanist post. And the necessity for truth as the foundation of democracy. And the need for vigilance to protect individual freedom against the metastasizing power of tech corporations.

“Nothing in the world of AI is immaterial or magical,” the pope writes. “Every seemingly immediate and flawless response” of a chatbot “is the result of a long chain of mediation, involving vast networks of natural resources, energy infrastructure and, above all, people.”

The pope leaves no ambiguity around his message: Get to work. “It is necessary to establish adequate regulatory tools capable of upholding justice and curbing the distorting effects of technological power,” he writes. In the age of AI “it is no longer possible to rely solely on the ‘invisible hand’ of the market.”

“Freedom in the digital age is not merely a matter of interiority but also a public concern. It calls for clear rules, transparency, the possibility of recourse and proportionate limits on the use of intrusive technologies, so that technology will remain at the service of the human person and not become a form of control over consciences.”

Learn. Talk. Connect. Decide. Act. The pope urges everyone: “Let us not be afraid to get our hands dirty on the ‘construction site’ of our time.” Dig in.