Bishops: Human Dignity Anchors Freedom in the AI Age
Ahead of International Religious Freedom Day, bishops warned AI could widen persecution and urged tech firms to respect the human search for truth.
On October 21, Archbishop Alexander K. Sample, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty, and Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace, issued a joint statement ahead of International Religious Freedom Day on October 27. The text commemorated the 1998 signing of the International Religious Freedom Act and rooted the defense of religious liberty in the Church’s teaching on the human person.
Citing Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica humanitas, the bishops stated that religious freedom is grounded in human dignity and offers “decisive criteria” for protecting individuals and societies. In a world increasingly shaped by digital systems, they argued that that teaching is more urgent than ever.
The statement warned that artificial intelligence tools could expand surveillance and the persecution of religious groups worldwide. “In the age of AI, human dignity remains at the heart of defending religious freedom,” the bishops affirmed. They called for collaboration across society — including the private sector — to prevent new forms of religious discrimination and to build a digital culture that respects the human search for truth and freedom.
They also highlighted the ongoing partnership between the Committee on International Justice and Peace and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, aimed at monitoring and answering violations of religious liberty abroad. In the 250th year of American independence, the bishops invoked the Sacred Heart of Jesus, joining the nation’s founding memory to the Church’s devotion and to the primacy of the person made in the image of God.
### Task Force on AI and Human Dignity
The message aligned with a new USCCB Task Force on Preserving Human Dignity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, established by the Administrative Committee and announced on October 16. Bishop Oscar Cantù of San Jose chaired the body. Seven bishop members served with him, including Cardinal Blase J. Cupich. Three consultants — Charles Camosy, Kim Daniels, and Meghan Sullivan — joined the work.
The task force said it would engage frontier laboratories, research organizations, and other stakeholders on artificial intelligence’s impact in education, health care, evangelization, and the protection of the vulnerable. Its mandate was not only to name risks but to help shape the technological culture in which Catholics live, serve, and worship.
Together, the religious-freedom statement and the task force set a clear line for the Church in the United States: technological power is measured by whether it serves the dignity of the human person and the freedom to seek God — criteria the Magisterium, under Pope Leo XIV, continued to propose to the world.