The Vatican Knows an ‘Industrial Revolution’ When It Sees One

The pope didn’t take long to explain why he picked the name Leo. Two days after his election, he cited his inspiration: the preceding Pope Leo, who led the Church while the West confronted the social and economic disruptions of the Industrial Revolution. The world now faces “another industrial revolution,” Leo XIV said last month, spurred not by mechanized manufacturing but by artificial intelligence. In particular, he noted the challenges that AI poses to “human dignity, justice, and labor,” three concerns that his 19th-century namesake prioritized as he responded to the technological transformations of his time.