The pope’s stance on AI offers an ‘interesting parallel’ with legacy of Venerable Robert Schuman

Pope Leo XIV’s approach to artificial intelligence mirrors the legacy of Venerable Robert Schuman, according to Professor Pier Luigi Parcu. Speaking to Crux Now, Parcu, who directs two centers at the Robert Schuman Centre in Italy, noted that the pope's views on technology parallel Schuman's 1950 proposal to pool French and West German coal and steel industries to prevent conflict.

Parcu explained that while Schuman focused on coal and steel as strategic resources, modern competition centers on energy, digital technology, and artificial intelligence. In the document Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV wrote that disarming AI requires freeing the technology from a mentality of armed competition. Parcu stated this refers to the economic and cognitive race for technological dominance rather than just military applications. Just as Schuman placed coal and steel under shared governance rather than abolishing them, the pope suggests a similar framework for managing AI.