Fifty global experts gathered at the Vatican’s historic Casina Pio IV on October 16–17 to explore how artificial intelligence can advance peace, social justice, and human dignity.
The conference, “Digital Rerum Novarum: Artificial Intelligence for Peace, Social Justice, and Integral Human Development,” was co-sponsored by Notre Dame Law School and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences (PASS). It brought together theologians, philosophers, economists, social scientists, technologists, and policymakers to analyze AI’s opportunities and risks.
The University of Notre Dame had a significant and multidisciplinary presence at the gathering, with faculty from the Law School, College of Arts & Letters, College of Engineering, and Keough School of Global Affairs contributing as organizers, panelists, and discussants.
Through a variety of sessions, participants explored the most effective ways to ensure that emerging digital culture remains truly human–characterized by authentic encounter, care for the vulnerable, and respect for human dignity–through open dialogue on spiritual, ethical, legal, political, sociological, economic, and cultural dimensions of AI.
Aligned with the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year and the PASS’s commitment to social justice and integral human development, the seminar reflected on the calls of the late Pope Francis, and recently Pope Leo XIV to steer artificial intelligence toward human-centered ends.
Drawing on Catholic social thought, the seminar centered on four major themes: Catholic Social Teaching in the Age of AI; Global Governance and AI Regulation; AI for a New Era of Social Harmony; and AI, Work, and Integral Ecology. Participants examined how artificial intelligence can advance peace, justice, and human dignity.
Discussions included the emergence of a de facto AI arms race and the respective roles of national and international governance structures. They also discussed equitable access, environmental sustainability, and the ethical use of data, with particular attention to protecting the most vulnerable. Speakers emphasized that human beings must always retain final authority over the use and governance of AI.
Notre Dame Law School Professor Paolo Carozza, also a member of PASS, served as a principal organizer of the seminar and delivered opening remarks, along with Cardinal Peter Turkson, Chancellor of PASS, and Sister Helen Alford, O.P., President of PASS.
Notre Dame faculty participants included:
- Paolo Carozza, Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School, Concurrent Professor of Political Science in the College of Arts and Letters, and a faculty fellow of the Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Panels on AI for Integral Human Development and Towards International Standards and Governance for Responsible AI (chair) - Nitesh Chawla, Frank M. Freimann Professor of Computer Science and Engineering in the College of Engineering, founding director, Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society and Lucy Family Director for Data and AI Academic Strategy, University of Notre Dame
Panel on Sustainable AI - Perla Khattar, Doctorate of Juridical Sciences Candidate at Notre Dame Law School and IBM Research Extern
- Mary Ellen O’Connell, Robert & Marion Short Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School and Concurrent Professor of International Peace Studies in the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies in the Keough School of Global Affairs
Panel on Governing the Risks of AI as a Weapon - Brett Savoie, Coyle Mission Collegiate Professor of Engineering, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in the College of Engineering
- Paul Scherz, Our Lady of Guadalupe Professor of Theology in the College of Arts and Letters
Panel on AI and Cognitive Integrity
- Lisa Schirch, Richard G. Starmann, Sr. Professor of the Practice of Peace Studies in the Keough School of Global Affairs
Panel on Social Peace in Digital Networks
- O. Carter Snead, Charles E. Rice Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School
Panel on AI and Cognitive Integrity - Tim Weninger, Associate Professor, Computer Science and Engineering in the College of Engineering
Panel on Social Peace in Digital Networks
An outcome of the seminar was the establishment of the Latin American AI Network for Integral Human Development, a cross-institutional effort to foster collaboration on AI development. The network will meet to exchange knowledge and will encourage broad regional participation.
Read reflections and key takeaways from some of the conference participants below.
Paolo Carozza
Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School, Concurrent Professor of Political Science in the College of Arts and Letters, and a faculty fellow of the Kellogg Institute for International Studies
“The important role and responsibility that the University of Notre Dame as a whole has in this area was very evident at the seminar, where our faculty members from various disciplines contributed key insights from their expertise. In that collaboration, Notre Dame has a unique capacity to generate deep ethical reflection, consistent with the Catholic social tradition, on the challenges of AI.”
Nitesh Chawla
Frank M. Freimann Professor of Computer Science and Engineering in the College of Engineering, founding director, Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society and Lucy Family Director for Data and AI Academic Strategy, University of Notre Dame
“Gathering at the Vatican highlighted the Catholic Church’s universal embrace of diverse peoples and disciplines in pursuit of the common good. The conference offered a deeply meaningful opportunity to reflect on a plurality of perspectives as we considered how AI can promote peace, social justice, and integral human development.”
Perla Khattar
Doctorate of Juridical Sciences Candidate at Notre Dame Law School and IBM Research Extern
“Working on the organization of the Digital Rerum Novarum conference was an intellectually transformative experience. For the first time, I was invited to look at artificial intelligence and technology through the lens of human dignity and the human person—a perspective deeply rooted in Catholic social thought and one that is urgently needed in today’s fast-evolving technology industry. One of my favorite parts of the process was tracing Pope Leo XIV’s speeches and publications on artificial intelligence since the beginning of his pontificate to better understand how his engagement with artificial intelligence consistently centers the human person. Bringing together scholars, theologians, technologists, and policymakers under the umbrella of Notre Dame’s deep academic and ethical tradition was a rare opportunity to foster genuine interdisciplinary dialogue at the Vatican.”
Mary Ellen O’Connell
Robert & Marion Short Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School and Concurrent Professor of International Peace Studies in the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies in the Keough School of Global Affairs
“In the shadow of St. Peter’s, my argument for preserving peace, human rights and the natural environment by adapting AI from offensive military uses to defense found new receptivity. The Vatican is fostering the answers to the planet-ending, humanity-ending potential of AI.”
Brett Savoie
Coyle Mission Collegiate Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; Director of the University of Notre Dame Scientific Artificial Intelligence Initiative
“The distinctive depth of Notre Dame expertise was on full display at the Digital Rerum Novarum conference. AI is not one thing, it is many things and yet the university was able to respond to the Pontifical Academy’s call for experts at this important forum.”
Paul Scherz
Our Lady of Guadalupe Professor of Theology in the College of Arts and Letters
“The conference was a great opportunity to bring theological reflections on the Church’s anthropological and social teachings into dialogue with other disciplines like law and computer science as the Church attempts to confront the challenges and opportunities of the rapid development of AI.”
Lisa Schirch
Richard G. Starmann, Sr. Professor of the Practice of Peace Studies in the Keough School of Global Affairs
“Catholic Social Teaching is deeply relevant to AI, a tool that could revitalize democracy through large-scale public deliberation on issues like climate and immigration—but also poses serious risks to undermine it.”
O. Carter Snead
Charles E. Rice Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School
“It was a great honor to join my Notre Dame colleagues in this important interdisciplinary opportunity at the Vatican to take up the challenge posed by the Holy Father to think together about how to ensure that AI is developed in a way that respects human dignity and serves the common good. For my part, I brought the insights from my work in bioethics and made the case that an anthropology of embodiment offers a useful framework for the protection of persons and promotion of human flourishing (through love and friendship) in this fraught domain.”
Tim Weninger
Associate Professor, Computer Science and Engineering in the College of Engineering
“Artificial Intelligence is transforming how we perceive the world; it’s changing the ways that we interact with and talk to one another,” said Tim Weninger, associate professor of Computer Science and Engineering. “It is important for foundational institutions like the Catholic Church to step up to provide moral guidance in a world profoundly changed by this impactful technology. Our goal is to help in that endeavor and I believe we’re making great progress.”
Originally posted at law.nd.edu on November 17, 2025.