The Catholic Church in Ghana is actively preparing for the release of Pope Leo’s first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” aiming to align its response to technological advancements with the Pope’s upcoming guidance. A high-level workshop of key religious leaders on ethical and pastoral response to emerging technologies has just concluded in Accra. The encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas will be launched in the Vatican on Monday, 25 May.
Gabriel Asempa Antwi – Accra
The strategic gathering, held at the National Catholic Secretariat in Accra, brought together fifty senior Church leaders, including Diocesan Communications Directors and members of the Conference of Major Superiors of Religious Ghana. The workshop was conducted with the formal approval of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, reflecting the Church’s growing global concern about the ethical implications of artificial intelligence (AI).
Ethics, education and rights
Participants worked to transition Church engagement with technology from passive use to active ethical governance. The sessions were anchored on the Rome Call for AI Ethics, a Vatican-backed framework launched in 2020 to guide the development and use of artificial intelligence in a manner that respects human dignity.
Facilitators Maria Amparo Alonso and Luca Baraldi of the Ethical Artificial Intelligence for Human Development initiative led discussions centred on ethics, education and rights. The workshop emphasised that technological advancement must serve the human person and not undermine human reason, conscience or dignity.
Addressing broader global inequality
The Ghana meeting also highlighted broader global inequalities shaping the AI landscape. While Ghana is advancing a national artificial intelligence (AI) strategy, Africa as a whole account for less than one per cent of global data centre capacity—the total infrastructure available for storing and processing digital information—raising concerns about dependence on external systems and the marginalisation of local perspectives.
Participants examined the human and environmental costs linked to artificial intelligence, including hazardous cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the psychological strain experienced by data labelling workers across sub-Saharan Africa. Environmental concerns were also raised over the significant water demands of large-scale computing systems.
The Church and fraudulent digital tools
Attention was further drawn to emerging threats facing Church institutions, including deepfake videos, voice cloning and fraudulent digital tools used to manipulate financial transactions. In response, the workshop established a directive that urgency must never override verification, underscoring the importance of safeguarding trust and accountability.
The meeting concluded with the development of a practical framework to guide the adoption of digital tools across Ghana’s dioceses. The framework calls for alignment with pastoral values, protection of personal data and the retention of human oversight in all AI-assisted processes.
