A bipartisan delegation of nine U.S. House lawmakers met with top Vatican officials on Wednesday to discuss the ethical and geopolitical risks of artificial intelligence. The group, led by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA), held private discussions that included a brief meeting with Pope Leo XIV. The visit was coordinated by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.
The meeting occurs as both the Catholic Church and the U.S. Congress increase their focus on artificial intelligence (AI), which refers to computer systems capable of performing tasks that typically require human intelligence. While Pope Leo XIV issued an encyclical in May calling for global AI safeguards, the U.S. Congress has yet to pass a comprehensive federal framework for the technology despite holding multiple hearings and introducing dozens of bills.
According to Rep. Khanna, the discussions centered on human dignity and equality. Khanna stated that these principles require humans to remain responsible for decisions involving health, finance, and freedom, and that automation should not be used to cause mass unemployment or exclude individuals from social services. The delegation also discussed the potential for AI to concentrate power among a small number of individuals and the theoretical limits of human knowledge and mortality.
The scale of the interaction involves a delegation of nine U.S. representatives and the leadership of the Catholic Church, which represents approximately 1.3 billion people globally. Following the meeting, Khanna sent formal inquiries to the chief executives of eight major technology firms—OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, and Amazon—asking for their plans to align development with human dignity. For the millions of Americans who use these platforms daily, the response of these companies could dictate future changes to data privacy, service eligibility, and the transparency of automated decision-making.
A concrete day-to-day change for the public would depend on whether Congress moves forward with new regulations or taxes based on these ethical frameworks. The discussion also addressed the geopolitical competition between the U.S. and China, which the Pope described as a contest between "opposing imperialisms." This competition affects the speed at which new technologies reach the consumer market and the federal funding allocated to technological supremacy. While a spokesperson for OpenAI cited existing safety commitments, the timeline for federal AI legislation remains uncertain as Congress has not yet reached a consensus on a governing framework.
In addition to Reps. Khanna and Newhouse, the delegation included Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO), Buddy Carter (R-GA), John Rutherford (R-FL), Randy Feenstra (R-IA), Shontel Brown (D-OH), Jill Tokuda (D-HI), and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL). Before arriving at the Vatican, the group traveled to Berlin to discuss China’s global influence. The Vatican did not respond to requests for comment regarding the specific details of the meetings.