Rome declaration calls for AI limits, no nuclear arms

By CathNews New Zealand

July 21st, 2026

Stairs leading to the Palazzo Senatorio, Rome’s city hall, on the Piazza del Campidoglio atop Rome’s Capitoline Hill. (Jorge Franganillo/Wikimedia Commons)

Inspired by Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, more than 200 leading academics, innovators and Nobel laureates have signed a declaration in Rome calling for responsible development of artificial intelligence and the complete elimination of nuclear weapons. Source: EWTN News.

“We must disarm the next arms race, both AI and nuclear, before they define the next century as well,” the declaration signed on July 16 stated.

Vatican News reported that the signing of the declaration for “an unarmed and disarming peace in the age of artificial intelligence, nuclear and autonomous weapons, new digital protocols, and emerging models of digital development” took place in the Giulio Cesare Hall at the Palazzo Senatorio, Rome’s city hall atop the Capitoline Hill.

The signing also concluded the Global Nobel Laureates Assembly on Artificial Intelligence and Nuclear War, held from July 14-16 at Borgo Laudato Si’, part of the Pontifical Gardens at Castel Gandolfo, where Pope Leo XIV is staying for his summer break.

The declaration called on governments and corporations to slow AI development, halt the expansion of nuclear arms and work toward their total elimination.

“We call on governments, corporations and international organisations to enable coordinated slowdown of frontier AI development,” the declaration stated. “We call for urgent, sustained and good-faith negotiations leading, within an agreed and time-bound framework, to the verifiable and irreversible elimination of nuclear weapons.”

According to a July 16 press release, the declaration and summit were inspired by Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas.

“Pope Leo XIV, invoking values shared across religious traditions, has called humanity toward an ‘unarmed and disarming peace’.”

Speaking at the signing of the declaration, the vicar general of the Diocese of Rome, Cardinal Baldassare Reina, explained its significance for humanity’s survival amid the threats of nuclear war and AI misuse.

“The declaration presented today reminds us with great clarity that no machine, no algorithm and no autonomous system can be placed at the centre of decisions upon which the survival of humanity depends,” Cardinal Reina said.

FULL STORY

Nobel laureates, experts sign AI declaration in Rome (By Ishmael Adibuah/EWTN News)

Nobel Laureates sign Rome Declaration on Nuclear Weapons and AI (Vatican News)