The VaticanNews portal reports on a seminar titled “Potential and Challenges of Artificial Intelligence,” held on March 2, 2026, in Rome. Organized by the Secretariat for the Economy and the Holy See’s Labour Office (ULSA), the event received the “appreciation and encouragement” of “Pope Leo XIV.” Speakers included Bishop Paul Tighe, Father Paolo Benanti, and Professor Corrado Giustozzi. Discussions centered on AI’s ethical governance, geopolitical influences, algorithmic bias, and the need for a new “ethics of technology,” referencing the document *Antiqua et nova* and the concept of “wisdom of the heart.” The seminar framed the Church as a “moral authority” able to guide AI development in a “VUCA” (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) world.
This pseudomoralistic pantomime, staged by the conciliar sect’s economic and labor offices, reveals a profound apostasy: a complete abandonment of the supernatural ends of the Church and the Kingship of Christ over all human endeavors, replaced by a sterile, naturalistic humanism.
The Vatican’s AI Ethics: A Naturalistic Pantomime Apart from Christ the King
The Silence of Christ the King: A Heresy of Omission
The most damning aspect of the entire seminar is not what was said, but what was utterly omitted: the reign of Jesus Christ, the King of nations. In the face of a transformative technology like AI, which will reshape labor, society, and the very concept of human dignity, the speakers never once invoked the Social Kingship of Our Lord. This silence is a categorical denial of Catholic doctrine as defined by Pope Pius XI in his encyclical Quas Primas.
Pius XI taught that the Kingdom of Christ “encompasses all men” and 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.” Therefore, “rulers of states… must publicly honor Christ and obey Him.” The application is unequivocal: every law, every economic system, every technological development—including artificial intelligence—must be ordered to the glory of God and the salvation of souls. The seminar’s focus on “ethical governance” and “biases” remains confined to the temporal, sociological plane, utterly divorcing the discussion from the immutable moral law and the final end of man. This is the precise error condemned by the Syllabus of Errors of Pope Pius IX: the separation of Church and State, and the notion that civil power can define its own rights apart from God (Errors #55, #39). The seminar assumes a secular space where the Church offers “moral advice,” not where Christ’s law must reign.
“Ethics” Without Morals: Engineering Over Theology
Father Benanti’s call for a new “ethics of technology” that questions the “politics embedded in such models” is a modernist trap. It replaces the objective, God-given moral order—the lex aeterna—with a sociological analysis of “configurations of power.” This is not Catholic moral theology; it is the “moderate rationalism” condemned by Pius IX, which subjects theological truths to the standards of human sciences (Syllabus Error #8). The true Catholic approach, as ever, begins with the nature of man as a rational creature destined for eternal life, and the immutable precepts of the natural law as interpreted by the Magisterium.
The seminar’s fixation on “algorithmic bias” and “data distortion” is a distraction from the far greater bias: the inherent sinfulness of man and the concupiscence that corrupts every human endeavor. As St. Pius X taught in Lamentabili sane exitu, Modernism seeks to “develop” dogmas and adapt them to “the advancement of human reason” (Proposition #5). Here, “ethics” is being “developed” into a technocratic discipline, severed from its foundation in the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, and the Sacramental system. The “ethical from design stage” mantra is a Pelagian illusion, believing man can construct a just order by his own efforts, forgetting that “the natural sense of the Gospel texts cannot be reconciled with the teaching of Catholic theologians about the consciousness and infallible knowledge of Jesus Christ” (Lamentabili, #32) only because Modernists have already rejected that teaching.
The Fraud of “Moral Authority” in a Vacant See
The article claims the Church possesses “moral authority” and can be a “meaningful partner.” This is a brazen fraud. The See of Peter is vacant. The line of antipopes beginning with Angelo Roncalli (“John XXIII”) and continuing through “Pope Leo XIV” (Robert Prevost) are notorious modernists who have promulgated heresies, from religious liberty (Dignitatis Humanae) to the evolution of doctrine (Lumen Gentium). As St. Robert Bellarmine taught, a “manifest heretic… by that very fact ceases to be Pope and head.” The Bull Cum ex Apostolatus Officio of Pope Paul IV declares the promotion of a heretic “null, void, and of no effect.” Therefore, the “Holy See” organizing this seminar is a paramasonic structure occupying the Vatican, not the Catholic Church. Its “moral authority” is nil; its partnership is with the world, not with Christ.
From VUCA to Veritas: The Catholic Alternative
Bishop Tighe’s use of the VUCA acronym (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) is the perfect symbol of the post-conciliar mentality. It is a managerial, psychological framework for a godless world. The Catholic response is not a better acronym, but the immutable Veritas of Christ. As Pius XI proclaimed in Quas Primas, “the hope of lasting peace will not yet shine upon nations as long as individuals and states renounce and do not wish to recognize the reign of our Savior.” The “confusion of ends” in the technological age can only be resolved by subordinating all means to the one end: “the knowledge and love of God, and eternal happiness” (St. Thomas Aquinas). The seminar’s silence on the final judgment, the state of grace, the Redemption, and the Sacrifice of the Mass is the “gravest accusation.” It discusses the “impact” of AI on “social context” without mentioning the impact on souls, the temptation to idolatry (worshipping the created over the Creator), and the duty to use technology for the glory of God and the propagation of the Faith.
The “Wisdom of the Heart” vs. the Intellectus of Faith
The document *Antiqua et nova* is cited for its appeal to the “wisdom of the heart, capable of integrating the whole and its parts.” This is rank sentimentalism, a departure from the Catholic intellectual tradition. True wisdom is the intellectus, the gift of the Holy Ghost that perfects reason, allowing it to grasp divine truths. It is not a vague “heart” feeling but the theological virtue of faith, informed by charity, assenting to revealed doctrine. The “wisdom of the heart” is a modernist code for a subjective, experiential religion devoid of content. Pius X condemned the proposition that “the dogmas of faith should be understood according to their practical function, i.e., as binding in action, rather than as principles of belief” (Lamentabili, #26). The seminar’s entire approach reduces Catholic “ethics” to a set of practical guidelines for AI developers, stripping it of its doctrinal foundation in the mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation.
Conclusion: The Fruit of the Conciliar Apostasy
This seminar is not an anomaly; it is the logical fruit of the conciliar revolution. It embodies the “errors of Modernism, the synthesis of all errors” condemned by St. Pius X. It is the practical application of the Syllabus’s condemned propositions: the state/church separation (#55), the denial that the Church has the right to define that Catholicism is the only true religion (#21), and the subordination of divine law to “human progress” (#56-64). By discussing AI without a single reference to the Social Reign of Christ, the necessity of the sacraments for salvation, or the absolute authority of the pre-1958 Magisterium, the participants demonstrate they are not Catholics but members of the “Church of the New Advent,” a syncretic, naturalistic sect.
The only legitimate response from faithful Catholics is to reject this entire pseudomoralistic enterprise, to pray for the restoration of the true Church, and to work for the public recognition of Christ the King over every algorithm, every server, and every human heart. As Pius XI thunderously declared, “when God and Jesus Christ… were removed from laws and states… the foundations of that authority were destroyed.” The Vatican’s AI seminar is a active participation in that destruction.
Source:
Vatican hosts seminar on AI and ethics (vaticannews.va)
Date: 02.03.2026