London, England, Sep 5, 2025 /
16:36 pm
The Catholic Church’s voice is vital in the global dialogue concerning the future of artificial intelligence (AI), experts highlighted during a symposium Sept. 2–3 at the Gillis Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Entrepreneurs, academics, and clergy came together in Scotland’s capital to tackle the ethics of emerging AI technologies in the context of Catholic social teaching, arguing that responsible regulation of emerging technologies depends on the wisdom, involvement, and action of the Church.
The conference was organized by St. Mary’s University, Twickenham, and attendees heard from a variety of speakers including Lucas Ernesto Wall, founder and CEO of almma, the first AI marketplace; Father Michael Baggot, professor aggregato of bioethics at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome; and Matthew Sanders, CEO of Longbeard and architect of Magisterium AI, Vulgate AI, and Christendom apps.
“The Catholic Church has been contemplating the question of what does it mean to be human for millennia,” Wall told CNA on Sept. 4. “We may be the best organization to help AI be dignified.”
In his conference presentation, which focused on “AI democratization,” Wall called for a deeper dialogue between the Church, academia, and the technology sector to ensure that “the algorhythmic age” focuses on human flourishing, especially for those who are marginalized.
Wall told CNA that he believes Pope Leo will make this a central aspect of his papacy and credited the Church for already taking great initiative under Pope Francis, illuminated through the promulgation of Antiqua et Nova.
“AI is impacting every aspect of life,” Wall explained, “and we have just begun to discover some of them. We need daily calls to action at the parish level; daily calls to action from everyone who is a Catholic in the world to engage in challenges around AI. This could prove to be the most powerful mobilization of the Church in generations. We do have a choice. We always have a choice. We must continue the conversation on this subject across religious and denominational lines. This affects all humans — not just Catholics.”
Sanders joined Wall in his optimistm about the potential for dialogue between AI labs and the Catholic Church.
“It is quite surprising how many heads of the AI labs are philosophically minded,” Sanders told CNA. “For example, Demis Hassabis is the CEO of Google’s DeepMind and a member of the Pontifical Council of Sciences and has spoken very publicly about the need for regulation, as has Dario Amodei, who is head of Anthropic. Overall, I think that AI labs do not want to be too prescriptive about what an AI world should look like, and they welcome the wisdom of the Church.”
CNA also spoke with Stephen Dolan, a lecturer in theology at St. Mary’s Twickenham.
“We had between 30-40 individuals join across both days in person and online,” he explained. “We had speakers travel in from North America or call in from India and the Philippines. Interest came from all across the globe, including from Ghana, India, and America. It is clear this topic is on the lips of many and came at the right time to bring such a variety of interested parties together.”
When asked what the overall conclusion of the conference was regarding the future of AI, Dolan said: “For me, the main takeaway is the uncertainty of what AI may mature to become. There was optimism and skepticism in the room with a healthy discussion about how AI will transform what the world needs.”
“It is clear that this uncertainty is an opportunity for the Church to be a global leader in reminding society that AI, like all technology, must serve a higher good, and when implemented with this vision it can be a force for good,” Dolan said.
“However, the Church is required to be the voice of the lonely, marginalized, and the future disenfranchised if unrelenting AI development fails to respect the intrinsic dignity of the human person.”
Dolan shared with CNA that “the [conference] room was alive with debate; optimism and skepticism coexisted because there was the hope and belief that the Church’s social teachings could ultimately hold all together and point society towards the greatest good.”
Madeleine is the former associate editor of the Catholic Herald. She has contributed to Sky News, BBC News, Woman’s Hour, Beyond Belief and many other programmes. She is also a regular Pause For Thought contributor on BBC Radio 2.
