AI Governance: Trump, China, and the Vatican’s Role

(ZENIT News / Rome, 09.23.2026).- As Pope Leo XIV prepares to address UNESCO in Paris on September 25, the Vatican is stepping up its efforts to shape the international debate over artificial intelligence, placing human dignity, the common good and the protection of freedom at the center of a rapidly accelerating technological revolution. The pontiff’s appeal for international safeguards comes amid mounting tensions between the United States and China, whose competition for technological supremacy has made cooperation on AI governance an increasingly urgent diplomatic question.

The Pope’s address will conclude a day of reflection on artificial intelligence, education and peace at the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. It will also mark the first papal visit to UNESCO in more than four decades. Representatives of all 194 member states, including China and the United States, are expected to be present, despite Washington’s intention to withdraw from the organization by the end of 2026.

Leo XIV has made the ethical governance of AI a central concern of his pontificate. In his May encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, he called for stronger regulation and oversight of technology companies and their AI models, warning against allowing private interests to determine the direction of a technology with far-reaching consequences for humanity. His message has found an audience beyond the Catholic Church, including among some prominent technology leaders who have expressed concern about the risks of increasingly powerful AI systems.

The diplomatic stakes are particularly high. At a September 17 summit in Washington, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping were expected to discuss, among other trade issues, the possibility of establishing shared safeguards for AI. Yet their approaches remain different. Xi has publicly advocated international cooperation, while the Trump administration has resisted comprehensive regulation and emphasized the potential benefits of technological development. The disagreement has become more consequential as industry leaders themselves call for a slowdown in AI development and stronger safety measures.

The Vatican is seeking to occupy a distinctive position in this debate: not as a technological power competing for supremacy, but as a moral and diplomatic interlocutor capable of bringing rival governments and other stakeholders into conversation. Its efforts extend beyond the Pope’s forthcoming speech, involving Catholic institutions, bishops, international conferences and contacts with technology executives and political leaders.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See’s secretary of state, has been among the most prominent voices urging governments to act collectively. Speaking at a September 16 symposium in Rome entitled “Faith and Reason in the Age of Artificial Intelligence,” he argued that the speed of technological development must be matched by serious reflection on its consequences. “Slowing down the pace is fundamental for the future of humanity,” he told journalists, calling for ethical considerations to guide both technological self-regulation and international policymaking.

Parolin endorsed Italian President Sergio Mattarella’s appeal for cooperation among states and supranational organizations, warning that some countries appeared determined to act independently. A global phenomenon, he argued, requires shared rules rather than fragmented national responses. Without common standards, the international community risks allowing technological competition to undermine the very human freedoms that innovation should serve.

In his address to the symposium, the cardinal described AI as a remarkable achievement of human science, but warned that it could paradoxically become a force that erodes individual freedom and decision-making. Drawing on the Pope’s encyclical, he framed the challenge as a choice between building a new Tower of Babel, in which technological power becomes an end in itself, and rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, an image of safeguarding human dignity and the common good.

The Vatican’s potential role as a bridge between Washington and Beijing is attracting growing attention. John-Clark Levin, an AI researcher at Yorktown and an advocate of greater Vatican involvement in AI governance, believes Leo could help revive diplomatic dialogue between the two powers. Although direct mediation may still be premature, the Pope could help create conditions for future negotiations by mobilizing countries in the Global South and encouraging the major powers to recognize their shared interests.

China may prove receptive to some of the Vatican’s proposals. The government in Beijing already exercises extensive domestic oversight of AI and has called for international cooperation. At the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai in July, Xi described AI development as something that should be an international “symphony of cooperation,” rather than a solitary national endeavor. Both Beijing and the Holy See have also emphasized the need to ensure that developing countries are not excluded from the benefits of the technology.

Elisa Giunipero, an expert on the Catholic Church in China, has observed that Leo’s encyclical has received a surprisingly positive response there. She sees a possible convergence between the Vatican’s emphasis on global governance and China’s stated interest in establishing internationally shared rules. Although relations between Beijing and the Holy See have long been complicated, the Pope’s disagreements with Trump have also helped demonstrate that his positions are not simply an extension of US policy.

The Vatican’s engagement with the technology sector has meanwhile become increasingly practical. On September 21, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the former head of the Vatican’s bioethics commission, participated in the Gates Foundation’s Goalkeepers event in New York, focused on equity in AI. Paglia has held private discussions with Bill Gates, who has expressed interest in Leo’s encyclical and pledged $1 billion to address AI inequality in the Global South. Gates has also met Trump and expressed a desire to meet Xi later this year, giving the conversations an additional international dimension.

In the United States, approximately 30 Catholic bishops met privately with seven AI experts representing four technology companies on September 16. The discussion, which lasted two and a half hours, addressed concerns ranging from job losses to the possibility of AI systems becoming uncontrollable. Bishop Oscar Cantú of San José, who leads the US bishops’ AI task force, said some technology representatives were looking to the Church for support in advocating regulation, particularly amid resistance from the Trump administration.

Cantú has urged political leaders to look beyond economic gains and national prestige, arguing that technological progress must be measured against the common good. A bipartisan congressional delegation led by Democratic Representative Ro Khanna had also visited the Vatican in August to discuss AI ethics, human dignity and national security. More than a dozen bishops subsequently went to Capitol Hill to encourage legislators to establish protective measures.

The Pope’s concern extends beyond the rivalry between major powers to the consequences of AI for workers and disadvantaged communities. At a Vatican-sponsored conference in Rome in September, participants from institutions in the Global North and South examined the relationship between technology, employment, inequality and the environmental transition. Leo called for regulation that protects people without stifling innovation, urging employers and trade unions to play an active role. Father Andrea Ciucci, a member of the Vatican’s AI commission, warned that the voices of the poor risk being lost amid the debate over technological advancement.

For Parolin, the human implications of AI are not merely abstract. Asked whether he uses the technology to prepare his homilies, he replied that he prefers to put “a little heart” into them, describing AI as “all head and no heart.” His answer echoed Leo’s own February warning to priests against relying on AI to write their sermons, underscoring the importance of personal reflection and authentic human communication in religious ministry.

Parolin also addressed the Holy See’s diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine, acknowledging that progress had been limited while insisting that dialogue must continue. The Vatican, he said, practices a diplomacy of sowing rather than immediate harvesting, with the hope that persistent engagement will eventually yield results. He stressed the importance of keeping channels open with Moscow and finding a negotiating framework in which both sides could feel secure and work toward a settlement that benefits them without one dominating or destroying the other.

The parallel between these diplomatic efforts and the Vatican’s approach to AI is evident: in both cases, the Holy See is advocating dialogue, shared responsibility and safeguards against the unchecked pursuit of power. Leo XIV’s UNESCO address will bring that vision before an international audience at a moment when the future of AI is increasingly bound up with questions of geopolitical rivalry, economic inequality and the meaning of human freedom.

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