The AI – Catholic Church Issue
June 1, 2026
Another dinobaby post. No AI unless it is an image. This dinobaby is not Grandma Moses, just Grandpa Arnold.
The New York Times published a short summary of five encyclicals. It is good to know that the NYT knows how to research the history of Papal actions. The story is paywalled, so paying, not praying, will reveal the truth. But the five encyclicals did not get to what I think is the crux of the matter or X marks the real spot.
Galileo Galilei makes it clear that he was very confused about the planets revolving around the sun and most of his other heretical thinking. House arrest made more sense to him than being burned at the stake. Thanks, Venice.ai. Good enough after three tries.
Not surprisingly, the Magnifica humanitas statement emphasizes guardrails, global regulation, and protection of humanoids. Anthropic’s “statement” was, and I summarize:
- Guardrails. Check
- Regulation. Check
- Protect humanoids. Check.
I interpreted the encyclical differently, probably because I worked on my graduate degree at Duquesne University (a Jesuit institution which like the idea of guardrails, regulation, and protection for humanoids. Believe it or not, I taught a couple of classes a requirement of my waived tuition, but I did get some money each month so I could enjoy a truly lavish lifestyle in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.)
The write ups about the encyclical did not talk about three interesting church actions. I will not talk about the Inquisition, but, please, keep that in mind if you doubt that the Catholic Church can take steps to clarify the thinking of certain of the church faithful.
I want to offer three examples of what happened when the tech bros did not line up with the Catholic Church.
First, Copernicus came up with the idea that lecturing and writing about his idea that the planets revolved around the sun deserved broad dissemination. The Church just grumbled but in 1616, that pot boiler De revolutionibus orbium coelestium was added to the Index of Forbidden Books.
Second, Galileo Galilei was into the Copernican concept. In 1633, he was tried by the Inquisition an found guilty. Galileo did the pragrmatic thing. He said, “I am sorry, very, very sorry.” The Church placed him under house arrest until he died.
The third example is one that calculus students don’t know much about. The Church determined that infinitesimals and by extension infinity bumped into Aristotelian philosophy. Those “teaching” about infinity were able to find jobs as farmers or buskers in Padua. Math bumped into this problem for decades until other issues pushed infinitesimals into an infinintely small segment of Catholic dogma.
My view of the encyclical about AI is, therefore, based on these historical actions. Thus, several observations can be offered:
- The Catholic Church can take direct and indirect action to suppress or cause information change
- Some of the methods tolerated by the Church involve indirect (house arrest) and direct (Iron maidens, heated fireplace pokers, etc.) to help individuals free their minds from certain thoughts
- The encyclical can spawn other statements that will be disseminated not by the Zuck-type or Telegram-type services. The message will be delivered to about 1.5 billion people. These indivdiuals with log on to the Zuck-type or Telegram-type services and comment about the Church message.
Net net: The Pope’s encyclical is a significant document and highly visible action. Additional communications and manifestations of the Pope’s guidance can be implemented with surprising ease and speed.
Stephen E Arnold, June 1, 2026
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