New Delhi: Pope Leo XIV’s first major ethical reflection on Artificial Intelligence appears to echo Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s repeated calls for human-centred, ethical and inclusive AI governance, with both leaders warning that the technology should serve people rather than be limited to data, profit or power.in their encyclopedia Magnifica Humanitas: On the Security of the Human Person in the Time of Artificial IntelligencePope leo XIV presents AI as one of the defining ethical questions of the era. The document places human dignity, truth, justice, freedom, action and peace at the center of the AI ​​debate.Even before the Pope, PM ModiIn speeches at global forums including the GPAI Summit, the AI ​​Action Summit in Paris and the India AI Impact Summit 2026, a similar argument was made: AI must remain trusted, safe, inclusive and directed towards public welfare rather than pure commercial or geopolitical competition.The strongest point of convergence is the idea that AI should remain focused on the human person rather than the machine.Pope Leo XIV writes, “In the age of artificial intelligence, when human dignity is threatened by new forms of dehumanization, we have a duty to remain deeply human.”PM Modi had used almost identical framing in a policy context, saying, “Technology exists to serve humanity, not to replace it.”At the India AI Impact Summit 2026, PM Modi described the central challenge as “how to make AI human-centric rather than machine-centric, sensitive and responsible rather than reckless.” The Pope’s warning that no machine can replace “the greatness of humanity” echoes PM Modi’s insistence that technology should enhance, and never eliminate, human judgment and responsibility.The Vatican document repeatedly warns against a “culture of power” driving the AI ​​race, particularly through the concentration of data, computation and technological influence in the hands of a few corporations and states.Pope Leo XIV argues that “technology is never neutral” because it reflects the values ​​and intentions of those who create, finance, and regulate it. He also rejected the idea that ethics could remain a voluntary corporate principle without legal accountability.The Pope writes, “It is not enough to invoke morality in the abstract; what is needed is strong legal frameworks, independent oversight, informed users, and a political system that does not shy away from its responsibility.” He added: “A more ethical AI is not enough if morality is determined by a few people.”PM Modi had similarly argued that AI governance cannot be left to markets or technology companies alone.“Ethics in AI cannot be optional or limited. Benefits must be aligned with purpose,” he said at the India AI Impact Summit 2026.The convergence is particularly visible in how both leaders define the purpose of the technology.Pope Leo XIV writes that technology can “heal, connect, educate and protect our common home,” but warns that it can also “divide, exclude and generate new forms of injustice.”PM Modi has repeatedly referred to the Indian civilizational phrase ‘Sarvajan Hitaya, Sarvajan Sukhaay’ and said that the ultimate goal of technology should be “welfare of all, happiness of all”.For both, AI is not just an efficiency tool or a race for technological supremacy. Its validity depends on whether it improves health, education, agriculture, public services, climate action and last-mile welfare delivery.Equity and access is another major area of ​​overlap.The Pope warned that when technological goods remain concentrated “in the hands of a few”, new imbalances arise, especially for poor societies and vulnerable populations.PM Modi had given a parallel argument from the perspective of the Global South. Speaking at the GPAI summit in 2023, he warned that unequal access to technology has deepened inequalities over the past century and said humanity must avoid repeating that mistake with AI.“Governance also means ensuring access for all, especially in the Global South,” PM Modi said at the Paris AI Action Summit in 2025.He also called for a global partnership on AI to be more inclusive of developing countries and their priorities.The two leaders also agree on the dangers of dehumanization and reducing humans to algorithmic categories.Pope Leo XIV has cautioned against “the pretense that a single language, even a digital language, can translate into data and display everything, including the mystery of the individual.”PM Modi warned in exactly the same formulation that “AI should not reduce humans to mere data points or raw materials.”While the terminologies are different – ​​metaphysical on the one hand, evolutionary on the other – both reject the same reductionist logic: human identity can be completely quantified, optimized or controlled by machine systems.Both leaders also see risks in implicit bias and exclusion within AI systems that present themselves as objective.Pope warned that AI could reinforce “the stereotypes or ideological biases of its designers and developers” while hiding behind a “veil of neutrality”.PM Modi similarly argued for “quality data sets free from biases”, warning that in a deeply diverse society like India, AI bias can emerge through language, culture, region, gender and socio-economic realities.At the Paris AI Action Summit, they used a simple example to illustrate the problem: If asked to picture someone writing with the left hand, an AI system would likely picture a right-handed person because that’s what the dominant training data shows.The future of work is another point of overlap.The encyclopedia acknowledged widespread concerns over automation, unemployment and de-skilling, warning that job losses are not just an economic problem, but also affecting dignity, families and social fabric.Pope Leo XIV argues that every expansion of automation must be accompanied by protections for employment, retraining, and worker participation.PM Modi had taken a more transition-focused approach, but reached a similar conclusion: “Job loss is the most dangerous disruption of AI. But, history has shown that work does not disappear because of technology. Its nature changes and new types of jobs are created.”He has repeatedly argued that preparation, skill, and human-AI collaboration are the best safeguards against disruption.The convergence ultimately points to a broader global argument: AI governance cannot be left to a handful of companies or powerful states acting alone.Pope Leo XIV called for “shared responsibility and courage” to ensure that technology serves humanity rather than domination or exclusion.PM Modi advocated a global compact on AI based on human oversight, security-by-design, transparency and safeguards against deepfakes, terrorism and criminal abuse.Their proposed MANAV framework – ethical and moral systems, accountable governance, national sovereignty, accessible and inclusive, and legitimate and legitimate AI – translates these principles into the Indian policy idiom.The Pope’s framework emerges from Catholic social teaching rooted in human dignity, solidarity, labor rights and the common good. PM Modi’s framework is inspired by democratic governance, developmental priorities and the civilizational ethos of India.Yet both interventions emerged from the same underlying concern: that artificial intelligence might outgrow the ethical and institutional frameworks needed to control it.Together, both approaches suggest the emergence of a broad global consensus: AI should not become a means of domination, exclusion, or dehumanization. It must remain accountable to the human person.