Pope vs the Machine
A Villanova-trained pope confronts the rise of AI with ethics and equations
Before he became Pope Leo XIV, he studied mathematics at Villanova University, earning his degree in 1977 with a focus on logic and probability. Classmates recall a quiet student who debated ethics as precisely as equations. Now, as pope, he warns that unchecked AI could reduce people to data points. In his first address to the College of Cardinals, he called for a binding global treaty on artificial intelligence. Echoing Leo XIII’s defense of workers during the industrial age, he plans to confront tech giants at a Vatican summit—not to endorse them, but to demand moral accountability.