Greetings!
Welcome to this special edition of Synthetic Auth! With all the AI hype and the corporate race for dominance, I feel like we're losing sight of what actually makes us human. I stumbled across the Vatican's take on AI a few months ago, and honestly, I've read it several times since then. There's something about its clarity and deeply human perspective that keeps drawing me back.
Look, regardless of where you stand on religion, this document cuts through the noise in a way that's refreshing. At a time when we're slapping the word "intelligence" on anything we can market in this AI gold rush, the Vatican actually draws some real lines around what intelligence means.
I'd encourage anyone to read the entire document if you can find the time, but I know that's a big ask. So I've tried to pull out what hit me as the most important insights below.
Whether you grew up watching the X-Files believing "the truth is out there" or decided to stay away from any type of organized religion after witnessing people killing one another in its name, the Catholic Church's latest pronouncement on artificial intelligence deserves attention. Regardless of your personal belief system, when an institution representing 1.3 billion people worldwide—and one that has influenced global ethics, politics, and social movements for two millennia—weighs in on humanity's relationship with intelligent machines, it's worth taking note.
The Catholic Church, an institution that has weathered centuries of scientific and technological upheaval, has issued its most comprehensive statement yet on artificial intelligence. In a sweeping 38-page document titled "Antiqua et Nova Note on the Relationship Between Artificial Intelligence and Human Intelligence", the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith doesn't simply offer cautious warnings about AI—it presents a nuanced framework for understanding how this transformative technology fits within Catholic teaching on human dignity, intelligence, and a person’s relationship with the divine.
Released in January 2025, this papal-approved document represents more than theological commentary. It's a serious attempt to grapple with fundamental questions about what makes us human in an age when machines can increasingly mimic human capabilities. The Church's response reveals both surprising openness to AI's potential and firm boundaries around human dignity that could influence global AI governance discussions far beyond Catholic circles.
Intelligence?
The Vatican's analysis begins with a crucial distinction that cuts to the heart of current AI debates. While both humans and machines can be called "intelligent," the document argues these represent fundamentally different phenomena that we confuse at our peril.
The Church's understanding of human intelligence goes far beyond computational power or even sophisticated problem-solving. According to the Vatican, human intelligence is inseparable from our entire being—what the document calls "a faculty that pertains to the person in his or her entirety." It's woven into our physical existence, our emotional life, our capacity for relationships, and our spiritual nature.
This integrated view encompasses what medieval philosopher Thomas Aquinas described as two complementary modes: “intellect” (intellectus; the intuitive grasp of truth) and “reason” (ratio; discursive reasoning). The first is our ability to apprehend meaning directly—like recognizing the pain in a friend's eyes or grasping the beauty of a sunset. The second is our step-by-step analytical thinking. Together, they form what the document calls "the proper operation of the human being as such."
But human intelligence includes even more. The Vatican emphasizes our capacity for semantic understanding—grasping not just patterns but meaning. Our creativity that generates genuinely new perspectives on reality. Our embodied existence that shapes how we learn and understand. Most importantly, our relational nature that finds its fullest expression in dialogue, collaboration, and communion with others.
AI operates in a fundamentally different mode. Even the most sophisticated systems work through what the Vatican terms a "functional perspective"—breaking down complex tasks into computational steps that machines can execute. The document acknowledges this can produce remarkable results: AI can integrate data across multiple fields, model complex systems, and help experts collaborate on problems too vast for any single perspective.
Yet this functional approach has inherent limits. Current AI systems rely primarily on "statistical inference rather than logical deduction." They identify patterns in massive datasets and make predictions, but they don't truly understand what they're processing. An AI system might generate a poem that moves us to tears, but it has no experience of the emotions it describes.
The Church warns against what Pope Francis calls the "technocratic paradigm"—the dangerous assumption that technological solutions alone can solve human problems. This mindset often prioritizes efficiency over human dignity, treating people as problems to be optimized rather than persons with inherent worth. When applied to AI, this paradigm can lead us to see intelligent machines as simply better versions of human intelligence, rather than tools created by and for human flourishing.
The Vatican takes aim at the famous Turing Test, which considers a machine "intelligent" if humans can't distinguish its responses from those of a person. This test only measures performance on specific intellectual tasks—not the full breadth of human experience that includes "abstraction, emotions, creativity, and the aesthetic, moral, and religious sensibilities."
This distinction leads to a crucial reframing: "AI should not be seen as an artificial form of human intelligence but as a product of it." Rather than viewing AI as an independent form of intelligence that might rival or replace human thinking, the Church sees it as a sophisticated tool created by human intelligence to serve human purposes. This perspective maintains human agency and responsibility while acknowledging AI's impressive capabilities.
The Church is particularly concerned about the seductive power of anthropomorphic language around AI. When we describe machines as "thinking," "learning," or "understanding," we blur crucial boundaries. The document warns that "drawing an overly close equivalence between human intelligence and AI risks succumbing to a functionalist perspective, where people are valued based on the work they can perform."
Perhaps most significantly, the Vatican argues that human intelligence has an essential orientation toward truth and goodness that transcends mere problem-solving. We don't just process information; we seek meaning. We don't just identify patterns; we pursue wisdom. This drive toward ultimate questions—what the document calls our capacity to be "overwhelmed" by the infinite—is what fundamentally distinguishes human intelligence from its artificial products.
The Church's framework suggests that the key question isn't whether AI can match human cognitive performance in specific domains—it increasingly can. The question is whether we'll remember that human intelligence encompasses far more than what can be computed, measured, or replicated by machines, and whether we'll resist the technocratic temptation to reduce human worth to functional capability.
AI's Promise & Peril: A Balanced Vision
The Vatican takes a notably balanced approach to AI that avoids both uncritical enthusiasm and reflexive opposition. Drawing on Catholic teaching about human creativity reflecting divine creativity, the Church frames technological development as potentially collaborative with God's purposes—part of humanity's calling to be stewards of creation.
AI could "introduce important innovations in agriculture, education and culture, an improved level of life for entire nations and peoples, and the growth of human fraternity and social friendship," the document suggests. It specifically highlights AI's potential to identify those in need, counter discrimination, and enhance healthcare delivery—applications that align with Catholic social teaching's emphasis on serving the vulnerable.
Yet the Church remains deeply concerned about AI amplifying existing inequalities. "Evidence to date suggests that digital technologies have increased inequality in our world," the document notes, warning that AI could perpetuate marginalization, create new forms of poverty, and worsen social divisions if deployed primarily to benefit wealthy elites.
The Vatican also cautions against the concentration of AI power in the hands of a few corporations, which creates risks that the technology could be "manipulated for personal or corporate gain or to direct public opinion for the benefit of a specific industry." Such entities could exercise "forms of control as subtle as they are invasive, creating mechanisms for the manipulation of consciences and of the democratic process."
Throughout its analysis, the Vatican consistently returns to several core principles that should guide AI development and deployment:
- Human Dignity as Non-Negotiable: The document firmly rejects any functionalist view that would measure human worth by productivity or capability. A person's value doesn't depend on specific skills or achievements, but on their inherent dignity as created in God's image. This principle has practical implications for AI systems that might be used to evaluate or rank people.
- Authentic Relationship Cannot Be Digitized: While AI can facilitate connections, the Church warns against substituting digital interactions for genuine human relationships. The document expresses particular concern about AI companions that might simulate empathy without the genuine care that characterizes real relationships.
- Human Decision-Making Must Remain Central: The Vatican insists that crucial decisions, especially those affecting human life and dignity, must always involve human judgment. "No machine should ever choose to take the life of a human being," the document states, specifically calling for prohibitions on lethal autonomous weapons systems.
- Transparency and Accountability: The Church emphasizes that AI systems should be transparent in their operations and that clear human accountability must exist at every level of AI development and deployment.
A Global Voice in AI Governance
The Church argues that its 2,000-year tradition of thinking about human nature, dignity, and purpose provides valuable resources for navigating technological change. This isn't simply conservative resistance to innovation, but rather an attempt to ensure that technological progress serves authentically human purposes.
Perhaps most significantly, the Vatican positions itself as a participant in rather than a critic of technological progress. The document explicitly states that the Church "encourages the advancement of science, technology, the arts, and other forms of human endeavor," viewing them as expressions of human creativity. Rather than opposing AI development, the Church seeks to influence it toward purposes that serve human dignity and the common good—offering principles that could prove influential in broader AI governance discussions far beyond Catholic circles.
As AI continues to reshape society, the Vatican's framework offers a reminder that the most crucial choices aren't about what technology can do, but about what we should do with it. In an age of rapid technological change, this ancient institution's voice adds a distinctive perspective to contemporary debates about artificial intelligence and human flourishing—one that transcends religious boundaries to address universal questions about technology's role in human life.
