Pope Leo XIV Calls for Ethical AI and Human-Centered Healthcare at Pontifical Academy

Vatican City — November 10, 2025: Pope Leo XIV addressed members of the Pontifical Academy for Life and invited experts in healthcare, bioethics and artificial intelligence, urging that digital technologies serve the dignity of the human person, not undermine it.

In his remarks, the Pope reaffirmed that AI, while offering unprecedented opportunities in research, healthcare and service, must always be treated as a tool shaped by human wisdom and oriented toward the common good. He cautioned that “no matter how extensive, data must never be confused with intelligence,” and insisted that truly ethical innovation evaluates benefits and risks in light of the “integral development of the human person and society.”

Highlighting the relevance of AI in healthcare, Pope Leo stressed that technological advances must never replace the relational, spiritual and moral dimensions that define human care. He called for health-systems and practitioners to maintain personal dignity and promote solidarity—particularly for the vulnerable and marginalised—rather than simply increasing efficiency.

Drawing inspiration from his namesake Pope Leo XIII—who engaged the challenges of the 19th-century Industrial Revolution—the Pope presented our age’s digital transformations as a “new threshold” demanding courageous ethical commitment. He urged the Academy and its partners to remain at the forefront of reflections on emerging issues such as algorithmic bias, data-driven care, and the governance of AI in medicine and beyond.

Pope Leo concluded by encouraging the participants to deepen collaboration across disciplines, to foster a media and technological culture rooted in truth and service, and to ensure that “the heart of healthcare remains always the human person.”

Source and Image Credits: Vatican News