Pope’s AI warning latest feud between Trump Administration and Vatican
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum opened a new front in the Trump administration’s public feud with the Vatican on Tuesday, dismissing Pope Leo XIV’s warning about artificial intelligence as the White House resists new guardrails against rapidly advancing technology.
“I didn’t know technology editorship was part of the papal role,” Burgum said in an interview with Fox Business, referring to Leo’s duties. first circularA 42,300-word document called for stronger AI oversight and warned that the technology could displace workers, deepen inequality and push lethal weapons decisions beyond human control.
But Vice President J.D. Vance, the highest-ranking Catholic in the Trump administration and one of his most important contacts to Silicon Valley, praised the same message in an interview with NBC as “profound” and the type of “moral leadership” the church should offer at the dawn of the age of artificial intelligence.
This divided response underscores the delicate politics President Donald Trump faces as he makes AI dominance and deregulation central to his second-term economic agenda while heading into an increasingly public fight with the first American pope.
“The vice president now appears to be backing away from earlier criticisms when he said Pope Leo needed to learn more theology,” said Peter Casarella, a theology professor at Duke Divinity School who studies artificial intelligence. “They got in front of their kayaks and are paddling.”
Leo’s remarks follow Trump’s decision last week to delay an executive order that would create a voluntary AI safety review process. Trump, who reversed course after pressure from the tech industry, expressed concerns that surveillance could slow U.S. competitiveness against China.
Some Catholics have also warned that unchecked AI could outpace policymakers and worsen problems related to work, children and family life.
“I think the so-called technology right to prevent the White House from doing anything sensible will be proven wrong,” said director Michael Toscano. Family First Technology Initiative at the Institute for Family Studies, which supports the pope’s push for more ethical AI guardrails. “I think the real danger is between now and November, when the elections are held in the United States.”
The AI war is the latest flashpoint in the escalating war between the White House and the Vatican.
In the year since he became pope, Leo has criticized Trump’s mass deportation effort, condemned the administration’s war in Iran and rejected an invitation to join Trump’s “Peace Board,” saying the United Nations should remain at the center of crisis management.
Trump, meanwhile, accused the pope of serving the “radical left” while accusing Leo of being “weak on crime” and “terrible on foreign policy.” Trump also posted a photo depicting himself as Jesus Christ tending to a sick man. Leo said he was “not afraid of the Trump administration.”
circularThe introduction of has added another political wrinkle. Leo published the document alongside Christopher Olah, a co-founder of AI juggernaut Anthropic, which is already at odds with the Trump administration after refusing to grant the US military unrestricted access to its technology.
Anthropic did not respond to a request for comment.
“The back-and-forth dialogue between the pope and industry giants has rarely been seen before,” said Paolo Carozza, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame. Meta’s Member of the Oversight Board and Pope Francis-nominee of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. “This is a positive sign for a lot of people.”
According to Trump, disagreements with the Pope could create friction among Catholic voters, who are an important part of Trump’s coalition. Trump won 55 percent of Catholic voters in 2024, while Kamala Harris received 43 percent. Pew Research Center. Four years ago Catholics were almost evenly divided; 50 percent supported Joe Biden and 49 percent supported Trump.
A public disagreement with the pope is unlikely to immediately shift conservative Catholic support for Trump. Many conservative Catholics remain aligned with him on abortion, religious freedoms and cultural issues.
But repeated clashes with Leo over immigration, war and now artificial intelligence could matter to Catholic voters less loyal to either side, especially if the dispute centers on workers, families and economic power.
“When you put inflation, gas, war with Iran and all that together, it becomes one more reason to lose voters who are on his side and don’t really want to be there,” he said. Ryan BurgeHe is a political scientist studying religion and politics at Washington University in St. Louis.
That tension could be particularly important in the midterm elections, Burge said, when Catholic voters could play an outsized role in swing districts like Long Island, Pennsylvania and Ohio, where Republicans have made inroads.
“The Republican Party has to be careful about who it courts and who it alienates,” Burge told CNBC. “After Christian white voters, Catholics may be the most important voters for Republicans.”
Another risk is that Democrats, labor groups, and AI safety advocates could use Leo’s warning to argue that the administration is too deferential to Silicon Valley and too dismissive of concerns about workers, families, and national security.
“If I were a Democrat running in a heavily Catholic district in the midterm elections, Trump’s comments mocking the Pope would be in every commercial,” Burge said. “They write it themselves.”
