Document Intermediate Doctrine 105 min read

Antiqua et Nova: Note on the Relationship Between Artificial Intelligence and Human Intelligence

Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith & Dicastery for Culture and Education · The Holy See · 2025-01

The Vatican's doctrinal office and its office for culture and education, writing jointly. The note was approved by Pope Francis and published in January 2025 — the Catholic Church's most complete statement to date on artificial intelligence.

Read the original at The Holy See ↗ Open the reading companion

The Catholic Church's considered answer to the question the AI industry keeps begging: what is intelligence? Drawing on a philosophical tradition running from Aristotle through Aquinas, the note argues that human intelligence is not task performance but a capacity of the whole person — embodied, relational, oriented toward truth and ultimately toward God — and that calling a machine "intelligent" borrows the word for something categorically different. From that foundation it works through the practical terrain: work, healthcare, education, war, relationships, and the temptation to make a god of our own making.

Read it whether or not you share the faith. It is the most serious sustained attempt by any major institution to say what a human being is before saying what a machine is not — the question secular AI ethics usually leaves undefined. Readers who want the argument without the full 105 minutes will find the companion's map of its structure enough to locate the load-bearing sections.