Cybersecurity & Tech

Lawfare Daily: Pope Leo XIV Takes on Silicon Valley with Christopher Hale and Renée DiResta

Renée DiResta, Christopher Hale, Jen Patja
Wednesday, June 3, 2026, 7:00 AM
Should the Pope’s new encyclical be read as anti-centralized-power, not anti-technology?
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Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical treats AI as the defining social question of our time: not just a technical shift, but a moral fight over dignity, labor, truth, war, and power.

In a Lawfare Live on Substack on Wednesday, May 27, Lawfare Contributing Editor Renée DiResta talked with Christopher Hale, author of the Substack newsletter “Letters from Leo,” about the Vatican entering the AI debate, what it means to “disarm” AI, and why the Pope’s new encyclical is best read not as anti-technology, but as anti-centralized-power. They discussed AI and human dignity; labor and automation; truth, democracy, and disinformation; autonomous weapons; and Silicon Valley’s response.

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Renée DiResta

Renée DiResta

@noUpside
noupside.bsky.social
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Renée DiResta is an Associate Research Professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown. She is a contributing editor at Lawfare.
Christopher Hale

Christopher Hale

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Christopher Hale is the author of the Substack newsletter “Letters from Leo."
Jen Patja

Jen Patja

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Jen Patja is the editor of the Lawfare Podcast and Rational Security, and serves as Lawfare’s Director of Audience Engagement. Previously, she was Co-Executive Director of Virginia Civics and Deputy Director of the Center for the Constitution at James Madison's Montpelier, where she worked to deepen public understanding of constitutional democracy and inspire meaningful civic participation.
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