Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum openly questioned Pope Leo XIVs decision to weigh in on artificial intelligence after the pontiff warned that the technology could erode human civilization.
According to Mediaite, Pope Leo issued his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence, a sweeping document that both praised AI as a valuable tool and urged a measured and viligant approach to its development. The Pope stressed the need to remain human and cautioned against allowing technological progress to displace human dignity and responsibility.
The following morning, Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo raised the encyclical during an interview with Burgum, framing it as a major intervention in the global AI debate. I mean, Secretary, even Pope Leo this weekend issuing a major document Monday focused largely on the implications of the rise of artificial intelligence, Bartiromo said, adding, The Pope saying that this technology could make civilization less human. Why is the Pope commenting about AI right now?
Burgum responded with a pointed rebuke of the Vaticans foray into tech policy, signaling skepticism about religious leaders opining on complex economic and scientific issues. Well, I didnt know that tech editorializing was part of the role of being Pope, he said, before pivoting to a familiar conservative critique of green energy mandates.
He argued that states burdened with very high electricity prices are suffering because of policies theyve pursued with trying to go with intermittent, unreliable, weather-dependent sources of electricity. Weve got to get back to base load power to make this whole thing work, but the future is very bright if we can make sure we can get this stuff built, Burgum insisted, underscoring a preference for reliable, traditional energy sources over fashionable climate agendas.
Burgums comments followed his testimony at a congressional hearing last week, where he derided solar power as effectively useless when the sun is not shining, a remark critics mocked by pointing to the existence of battery storage. For many conservatives, however, his broader argument reflects a growing concern that elite institutionsfrom the Vatican to progressive lawmakersare prioritizing ideological climate and tech narratives over affordable energy, innovation, and human freedom.
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