The Vatican News portal reports on a conference titled “Learning by Doing. Ethics and Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” held at the Pontifical Antonianum University in collaboration with Mississippi State University. The event, part of the International Observatory for Integral Intelligence, Ethics, and Public Value, focuses on the “ethical, legal, and cultural aspects of artificial intelligence.” The partnership includes research on “the legal and social implications of digital transition” and student exchange programs. Delegates met with “Pope Leo XIV,” who supported the initiative. The article frames the project as a positive step in blending technical innovation with ethical reflection, emphasizing public value and cultural immersion. **The complete omission of Jesus Christ’s sovereign rule over all human endeavors, including technology, and the substitution of a vague, naturalistic “ethics” for the binding moral law of God, expose this initiative as a fruit of the post-conciliar apostasy.**
The Naturalistic Foundation: A Direct Assault on the Social Kingship of Christ
The entire premise of the conference rests on the false dichotomy between “technical innovation” and “ethical boundaries,” as stated by Dr. David Shaw of Mississippi State University. This framework is a direct echo of the condemned errors of the *Syllabus of Errors*. Pope Pius IX anathematized the notion that “human reason, without any reference whatsoever to God, is the sole arbiter of truth and falsehood, and of good and evil” (Error 3). By discussing “ethical boundaries” and “public value” without a single reference to the **Divine Law**, the Ten Commandments, or the **Social Reign of Christ the King**, the conference participants operate within the secularist paradigm Pius XI condemned in *Quas Primas*.
Pius XI taught that “the State is happy not by one means, and man by another; for the State is nothing else than a harmonious association of men” and that all authority derives from God. He explicitly stated that the hope for peace and order depends on “individuals and states [renouncing] and do[ing] not wish to recognize the reign of our Savior.” The conference’s silence on this fundamental truth is not an oversight; it is a **deliberate exclusion** of the *only* foundation for true ethics. Pius XI further declared that when “God and Jesus Christ… were removed from laws and states… the foundations of that authority were destroyed.” The “integral intelligence” defined by Professor Giuseppe Torre as connecting “technique and meaning, efficiency and dignity” is a **meaningless humanistic slogan** without the **exclusive primacy of God’s law**. The *Syllabus* condemns Error 56: “Moral laws do not stand in need of the divine sanction, and it is not at all necessary that human laws should be made conformable to the laws of nature and receive their power of binding from God.” This conference is a practical application of that condemned error.
The “Pontifical” Facade: Legitimizing the Conciliar Sect
The article repeatedly uses the term “Pontifical” to describe the Antonianum University and refers to “Pope Leo XIV.” This is a **deliberate act of deception**. From the perspective of integral Catholic faith, the See of Peter has been vacant since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958. The line of “popes” from John XXIII onward are **usurpers** who have promulgated the apostate Vatican II “council.” The *Defense of Sedevacantism* file demonstrates, citing St. Robert Bellarmine, that a **manifest heretic loses his office *ipso facto***. The “Pope” meeting with the delegation is Robert Prevost, an antipope. His support for a project that utterly ignores the **hypostatic union** and the **absolute sovereignty of Christ** is the logical outcome of the Modernism condemned by St. Pius X in *Lamentabili sane exitu*.
Proposition 58 of that decree states: “Truth changes with man, because it develops with him, in him, and through him.” The very concept of evolving “ethics” for AI, detached from the immutable moral law, is a manifestation of this condemned doctrine. The conference treats ethics as a **human construct** to be “developed” in response to “digital transition,” precisely the “pursuit of novelty” denounced in *Lamentabili* (Introduction). The involvement of a body calling itself “Pontifical” gives a **false Catholic veneer** to this naturalistic project, leading souls into the error that one can serve both God and Mammon.
The Omission of the Supernatural: The Gravest Accusation
The analysis must focus on what the article **silently excludes**. There is **no mention** of:
* The **Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass** as the sole true worship owed to God.
* The **Sacraments** as the necessary channels of grace for individuals and societies.
* The **state of grace** as the indispensable condition for any action to be meritorious before God.
* The **Final Judgment** of Christ, to whom all nations will be held accountable.
* The **First Commandment**: “Thou shalt not have strange gods before me.” An “ethics” for AI that does not begin with the obligation to recognize Christ as King in all things is **idolatry**.
This silence is the hallmark of the “abomination of desolation” standing in the holy place (Matt. 24:15). Pius XI, in *Quas Primas*, explained that Christ’s kingdom is “primarily spiritual and relates mainly to spiritual matters,” requiring repentance, faith, baptism, and the denial of self. The conference’s focus on “public value” and “digital transition” is a **demonic distraction** from the only question that matters: “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30). The *Syllabus* condemned Error 15: “Every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which, guided by the light of reason, he shall consider true.” The relativistic “ethics” discussed here, devoid of Catholic truth, is the practical implementation of this condemned indifferentism.
The Symptom: Conciliar “Dialogue” with the World
The partnership with a secular state university exemplifies the conciliar error of “dialogue” with the world, which is condemned by the *Syllabus* (Error 80: “The Roman Pontiff can, and ought to, reconcile himself, and come to terms with progress, liberalism and modern civilization”). This is not “engagement”; it is **apostasy**. The Church’s mission, as defined by Pius XI, is to “teach, govern, and lead all to eternal happiness,” which “cannot depend on anyone’s will.” By collaborating on “legal and social implications” with an institution of a nation steeped in pluralism and religious indifferentism, the “Antonianum University” **surrenders the unique claims of the Catholic Church** to a seat at the table of worldly wisdom.
The “student residence project” and “immersion in Italian history, culture, arts” further reveal the naturalistic focus. The goal is not the **salvation of souls** through instruction in the **Catholic Faith** as the sole path to heaven, but the acquisition of “experience” and “perspective.” This is the “cult of man” condemned by Pius XII. The *Syllabus* (Error 40) states: “The teaching of the Catholic Church is hostile to the well-being and interests of society.” The conference implicitly accepts the opposite, that “ethics” can be built on a neutral, inter-religious, or purely rational basis—a **fundamental denial of the Catholic Faith**.
Conclusion: A Service to the Spirit of the Age
This conference is not an “opportunity” but a **scandal**. It uses the stolen name “Pontifical” to lend credibility to a project that is, in substance, a **workshop in the religion of human progress**. The “ethics” promoted are the ethical relativism of the *Syllabus*’s Errors 56-64, which reduce morality to the accumulation of riches and the gratification of pleasure (Error 58). The “integral intelligence” sought is a **false synthesis** of technical prowess and vague human dignity, precisely the “dogmaless Christianity” condemned in *Lamentabili* (Proposition 65): “Contemporary Catholicism cannot be reconciled with true knowledge without transforming it into a certain dogmaless Christianity, that is, into a broad and liberal Protestantism.”
The meeting with “Pope Leo XIV” provides the final seal of approval for this apostate endeavor. It demonstrates that the **conciliar sect** is fully committed to the **Modernist synthesis** of all errors, using the language of “ethics” and “public value” to lead souls away from the **unequivocal teaching of Christ**: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). The only “public value” is the public confession that **Jesus Christ is King**. Until that is proclaimed from the rooftops, all other talk of ethics is the **whitewashing of sepulchres** (Matt. 23:27).
Source:
A Pontifical and an American university promote ethics and education in AI era (vaticannews.va)
Date: 14.03.2026