Speaking at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin delivered an address to mark the 150th anniversary of the university’s Faculty of Canon Law. Opening a five-day symposium, the Cardinal drew from Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica humanitas to reflect on the intersection of international law, ethics, and emerging technologies, emphasizing that jurists must act as guardians of legality rather than mere technical interpreters of procedures.
Cardinal Parolin stressed that law serves as an essential barrier against oppression, illegality, and the misuse of power designed to exclude the vulnerable. Addressing the rapid rise of digital tools and artificial intelligence, he noted that while technology offers promises that can mirror a human participation in divine creation, developers hold a deep ethical responsibility. He urged institutions to ensure that digital infrastructures and algorithms protect human dignity, promote accountability, and remain strictly directed toward the common good.
Drawing a parallel between Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum novarum during the Industrial Revolution and Magnifica humanitas in today’s digital era, Cardinal Parolin warned against reducing people to mere cogs in systems optimized solely for efficiency. He underscored that technological innovations—including automated systems and AI—are not neutral, as they possess the power to either broaden social participation or deepen global inequalities and exclusion.
The Vatican Secretary of State concluded by challenging legal scholars to establish regulatory frameworks capable of governing technological power, particularly regarding its impact on international conflict and multilateral governance. By grounding future legal norms in principles of Catholic Social Teaching—such as solidarity, subsidiarity, and the universal destination of goods—he called for law to preserve its moral foundation and counter the dominant “culture of power” in modern human relationships.