Catholic Schools Have Prepared for Centuries for the AI Moment Pope Leo Describes in Magnifica Humanitas

Written by Laura Tierney, Founder and CEO, The Social Institute

When Pope Leo XIV released his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, it landed differently for those of us who have spent years inside Catholic schools. Not as a surprise, but as a confirmation.

What struck me most was not a warning about artificial intelligence (AI). It was a description of the kind of education the moment demands. Pope Leo calls for a renewed educational alliance, so the desire to ask questions is not extinguished in our students by machines that make human thought seem unnecessary. He calls for renewed attention to schools as places where students learn to seek and love the truth.

That is not a new assignment for Catholic education. That is Catholic education.

A Hammer is Only as Good as the Hand Holding It

Pope Leo is careful about technology itself. He writes that it is neither a force antagonistic to humanity nor inherently evil. Then he adds the line that matters most for school leaders: technology is never neutral, because it takes on the character of the people who build it, fund it, and use it.

A hammer can build a house or break a window. What matters is the hand holding it and the intention behind the swing. That idea is not new. It is older than any encyclical. Catholic schools have been teaching students to think about the moral weight of their choices for generations. Artificial intelligence is a new subject. The question underneath it is one Catholic educators know well.

AI literacy is not a technology problem to be solved with a policy. It is a formation question. What kind of person uses this tool, and for what?

Set the Compass Before the Journey Begins

Many Catholic schools start the day with prayer or reflection before anything else. Not because the rest of the day does not matter, but because it orients everything that follows. Formation comes first. Instruction follows.

At Yuma Catholic High School in Arizona, leaders noticed that technology was creating real stress for students and pulling at their ability to focus and connect. They could have responded with a ban. Instead, they asked a better question: what do our students actually need?

The answer turned out to be the thing Catholic education already provides. Honest conversation. Trusted adults. A framework for making choices that reflect a student’s values. When Yuma gave students the language to reflect on how technology was shaping their relationships and their sense of self, the students stopped being subjects of a rule and started becoming partners in the solution. Formation came first. The rest followed.

What the Data Tells Us

Over the past ten years, The Social Institute has gathered insights from more than 53,000 students across grades 3 through 12. What we find, consistently, is that students are far more self-aware than adults give them credit for. The top skill high schoolers say they most want to improve is finding a better balance between screen time and other priorities. They see the challenge and are asking for help.

The gap is in the guidance they receive. Only 10 percent of high schoolers say their school has clear AI guidelines. Another 43 percent say guidelines exist but were never communicated well. Students are navigating one of the most consequential technologies of their lives with very little support.

That is not a failure on the part of educators. A few years ago, hardly anyone outside a research lab was thinking about AI. Now teachers across the country are expected to guide students through it, often without anyone having taught them first. The gap is real, and it is not anyone’s fault.

Catholic schools are positioned to close this gap because educating and forming the whole person is already the mission. Adding AI literacy does not require Catholic schools to become something they are not. It asks them to apply the formation they already do to a new and urgent subject.

The Rulebook Ends. The Conscience Does Not.

You can give a student every rule in the handbook, and they will find the edge of every one. Or you can shape their conscience so they make good choices when no one is watching, and no rule applies.

AI moves faster than any rulebook. New tools, new capabilities, and new pressures arrive before policy can catch up. Conscience does not have that problem. A student who has been formed to ask “Is this who I want to be?” will ask that question whether the tool is TikTok, ChatGPT, or something that does not exist yet.

Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical is not a policy document. It is an invitation to discernment. For Catholic school leaders, that discernment might look like this:

1. Start with the mission, not the technology. Before adopting any AI policy or digital wellness program, ask whether it reflects your school’s understanding of the human person. Technology education that is only about safety misses the deeper formation Catholic schools are called to provide.
2. Bring families into the conversation. Parents are navigating these questions at home, often without resources. Catholic schools can be the bridge, sending families the language and frameworks that reinforce what students are learning in school.
3. Trust your students. In our team’s work with Catholic schools, we repeatedly find that students rise to meet the expectations placed on them. When we treat students as partners in the solution, when we ask what they are experiencing and what they need, they bring honesty, insight, and genuine desire to do better.

Don’t wait for perfection. AI is not going to pause while schools develop policy. The most important thing a Catholic school can do right now is start the conversation, whether in advisory, in theology class, or during homeroom, about what it means to use these tools in ways that reflect who we are and who we are called to be.

A Moment Catholic Schools Were Made For

Catholic schools have always been places where young people are formed, challenged, and sent into the world with the values and the skills to be good stewards within their communities. The rise of AI is not an interruption to that mission.

The hammer is in students’ hands. Catholic schools have always been rooted in the mission of teaching them how to use it well. That work does not change because the tool does. If we approach this moment with courage and clarity, it’s an opportunity to demonstrate what formation in the fullest sense actually looks like.

The world is watching. Catholic schools have something extraordinary to show them.