EU Bishops Set Out Principles for Placing AI "at the Service of the Human Person"
What happened
COMECE presented Magnifica Humanitas.
- Who
- COMECE
- To whom
- Magnifica Humanitas
- Kind of action
- Wrote, signed or issued
- Tone
- Mixed
- Reported by
- ACI Digital
Every action it reports: 6
- COMECE called on European UnionSaid or cited
- COMECE presented Magnifica HumanitasWrote, signed or issued
- COMECE published A Responsabilidade da Europa na Era da Inteligência Artificial: Um Apelo à Salvaguarda da Pessoa HumanaWrote, signed or issued
- Pope Leo XIV authored Magnifica HumanitasWrote, signed or issued
21 October 2026 at 11:11
The bishops of the European Union have called on the European Union (EU) and its Member States to ensure an artificial intelligence (AI) "at the service of the human person, the common good and peace," defining eight principles that they want Europe to apply at the national level and promote at the international level.
The statement, entitled The Responsibility of Europe in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: A Call to Safeguard the Human Person, was adopted on 16 October, at the close of the autumn plenary assembly of the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), in Brussels, Belgium, and published last Monday (19).
"Humanity is at a decisive moment in which technological progress must be guided by a renewed commitment to the dignity of every person, justice and fraternity," the bishops wrote.
The bishops spoke of the "significant opportunities" that AI offers, but said its rapid development raises "profound anthropological, ethical, social and legal questions." They spoke of the EU's efforts to regulate the technology and urged Europe to act "with urgency, ambition and responsibility" to strengthen its digital capacities and assume a leadership role in the international governance of AI.
The Eight Principles
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Human dignity and the capacity for individual action must remain paramount. • The common good, solidarity, subsidiarity, care for creation and justice must guide technological innovation. • Responsibility, transparency and accountability must accompany AI. • Artificial intelligence must not become a source of discrimination, exclusion or manipulation. • Artificial intelligence must not diminish or replace the uniqueness of the human being, and people must not be "reduced to data or commodities." • Digital and technological commons require responsible governance. • Democracy and the rule of law must be protected. • Artificial intelligence must contribute to peace and human fraternity.
"Its future must be shaped not only by what technology can do, but also by what human dignity, responsibility, solidarity and fraternity require," the statement concludes.
The assembly, held from 14 to 16 October, began with a presentation in Brussels of Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical, Magnifica humanitas, published in May, on artificial intelligence. Bishop Paul Tighe, secretary of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, delivered the opening address.
The bishops also sent a telegram to Pope Leo XIV wishing him "a speedy recovery after surgery." The pope underwent surgery to treat lung cancer on 13 October and was discharged from the hospital on 17 October.
COMECE, founded in 1980, represents the Catholic episcopal conferences of the EU Member States before the EU institutions. Its current president is the Italian bishop Mariano Crociata.