A group of Catholic moral theologians is urging a federal appeals court to rule in favor of “caution” and “responsibility” regarding military artificial intelligence (AI) usage, with the scholars weighing in on a dispute between the U.S. government and one of the most prominent AI companies.

The scholars — which include University of Dayton professor Jana Bennett, Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum bioethics professor Father Michael Baggot, and Loyola University Chicago philosophy professor Joe Vukov — told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that it should support “defined normative boundaries” for the use of AI in warfare.

Amicus brief from Catholic moral theologians

The dispute stems from the U.S. Department of War’s usage of AI models from Anthropic, a major California-based AI developer. The company had been providing intelligence technology for the government but had forbidden its usage in both lethal autonomous warfare and mass surveillance of U.S. citizens.

The War Department ultimately ended its contract with Anthropic and subsequently labeled the company a national security risk. The D.C. appeals court upheld that decision in a September ruling.

In their filing supporting Anthropic’s request for an “en banc” hearing at the appeals court, the theologians said they were backing the company’s “principled ethical stance on AI use” by the military.

The scholars said they agreed that AI “ought not to be used for mass domestic surveillance,” citing the Catholic Church’s teachings on privacy. They pointed to the Catechism of the Catholic Church’s instruction that “no one is bound to reveal the truth to someone who does not have the right to know it.”

Privacy “is not an absolute right,” they acknowledged, but mass surveillance “clearly oversteps” the principle of privacy and would amount to a “clear violation” of human dignity.

Autonomous weapons, meanwhile, “obscure human agency” and shift responsibility “away from human decision-makers to machines.”

“They accelerate the already rapid military decision-making processes, perhaps to the point of eliminating even the possibility of human involvement,” the scholars said, arguing that “practical judgment and careful decision-making” should “inform all human decisions,” particularly involving life and death.

The theologians quoted Pope Benedict XVI in his encyclical Spe Salvi, in which the late pope acknowledged that developing technology offers “new possibilities for good” as well as “appalling possibilities for evil.”

In the boundaries it set, Anthropic “was acting as a responsible and moral corporate citizen, not as a threat to the safety of the American supply chain,” the scholars argued.

Catholic leadership has been regularly warning of the risks of AI in recent months. The U.S. bishops launched a task force in September to help promote human dignity among the rapid rise of AI technology.

Pope Leo XIV, meanwhile, has been a global voice urging caution on AI, including with his landmark May encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, in which the Holy Father warned that the “pervasive technocratic paradigm” of which AI is a part “threatens to normalize an antihuman vision.”

Earlier this month, meanwhile, the pope cautioned against the spread of AI-produced art, with the pontiff citing the “urgent” need to “distinguish human art from what is produced by machines.”

Luis de la Fuente, the Spanish national soccer team coach, brought the World Cup trophy to the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar in Zaragoza and presented it to the Virgin Mary during an Oct. 19 ceremony.

The coach was accompanied by Rafael Louzán, president of the Royal Spanish Football (Soccer) Federation (RFEF, by its Spanish acronym) and other representatives from the Spanish soccer scene.

“It is a tremendously moving experience. You all know of my devotion to the Virgin of the Pillar, and I feel very happy and proud to be here with all of you,” said De la Fuente following the offering of the trophy, as reported by la Iglesia en Aragón (The Church in Aragon) website.

The national team coach, who personally carried the trophy for much of the visit, also spoke about what it meant to him to return to the shrine. “Above all, it was an emotional experience, an indelible memory that I will carry with me forever,” he remarked.

Hundreds of people followed the ceremony both inside and outside the basilica. Among those in attendance were Archbishop Carlos Escribano of Zaragoza, and Father Juan Sebastián Teruel, dean of the metropolitan chapter of the cathedral.

‘With gratitude, humility, and emotion’

The offering of the cup to the Virgin was led by Louzán, who addressed her on behalf of the federation.

“Today we come to your feet, on behalf of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, to offer you this World Cup with gratitude, with humility, and with emotion,” he stated, as reported by the official RFEF website.

In his remarks, the president of the RFEF recalled the bond connecting the Virgin of the Pillar to the history and faith of Hispanic peoples, “who also find a shared passion in football.”

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Louzán also prayed that the Virgin might accompany those who are part of the Spanish football community, helping them to experience their wins with humility and to show solidarity toward others.

“Help us to make football a school of camaraderie, effort, and solidarity — a place where we learn to reach out a helping hand and to place the good of the team above our own self-interest,” he added.

Before concluding, he once again entrusted the trophy to the Virgin: “Our Mother, receive this cup and the affection with which we offer it to you. May we, under your guidance, find the strength to continue working together and to bear the name of Spain with pride and responsibility. Long live the Virgin of the Pillar.”

Archbishop’s remarks

Escribano also spoke, highlighting what in his view enabled the national team to achieve its goals.

“Teamwork, conviction, faith, and leadership have shown us everything we can accomplish,” he stated.

The prelate noted that Spain already holds two world titles and expressed his hope for further victories: “There are already two stars, and hopefully there will be many more in the future much like the ones you see in the Virgin’s chapel.”

The president of Aragon’s petition

Jorge Azcón, president of the Aragon autonomous regional government, asked Louzán to deliver some special gifts to the entire team: ribbons that represent the approximately 14 inches height of the statue of the Virgin of the Pillar for every member of the Spanish national team.

“I believe, my dear president, that you must commit to me to ensure they reach each and every one of them,” he said.

The World Cup returns to Zaragoza

The visit took place three months after thousands of people in Zaragoza celebrated Spain’s World Cup victory.

Before heading to the basilica, the delegation took part in an official event at city hall. The mayor of Zaragoza, Natalia Chueca, recalled the joy the city experienced during the tournament.

The delegation’s itinerary also included a visit to the construction site of the new La Romareda stadium. Zaragoza is preparing for the 2030 World Cup, for which the sports venue is expected to have a capacity of over 40,000 spectators.

This story was first published by EWTN News Español, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

(OSV News) — Most Americans are familiar with the phrase “with liberty and justice for all” as the concluding line of the Pledge of Allegiance.

But what, specifically, about economic justice for all — what should that look like?

On Nov. 13, 1986, the U.S. Catholic bishops, as the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (a predecessor to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops), proposed their own answer, voting to adopt “Economic Justice for All: Pastoral Letter on Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy.”

As its 40th anniversary approaches, the question remains relevant — especially since most of the change the bishops’ pastoral letter urged has not come to pass and surveys show economic and cost-of-living struggles dominate Americans’ concerns.

“That’s one of the really heartbreaking things,” reflected Jesuit Brother Ken Homan, a board member of the Catholic Labor Network, which is offering an “Economic Justice for All” study series — and assistant professor of history at Saint Louis University.

“It talks about the increasing gap between the rich and the poor; the inaccessibility of housing; the accessibility of healthcare,” he explained. “Well, the gap between rich and poor has increased even more since then and the discrepancy between the pay of a CEO and the pay of a floor worker has become astronomical.”

Economic justice picture 40 years later

What do current economic statistics say about the U.S. bishops’ concerns from the mid-80s?

In January 2026, it was reported wealth inequality in the U.S. hit its widest gap in more than three decades, with the top 1% of households owning 31.7% of all U.S. wealth as of the third quarter of 2025 — the highest share on record since the Federal Reserve began tracking household wealth in 1989.

During February 2026, the National Association of Home Builders stated, “In 39 states and the District of Columbia, more than 65% of households are unable to afford the median-priced new home, indicating a significant disconnect between higher new home prices, elevated mortgage rates, and stagnant household incomes.”

As of June 2026, the West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare in America indicated U.S. adults’ ability to afford healthcare stood at a five-year low; an estimated 2.8 million more Americans reported an inability to afford healthcare in 2025 compared with 2024. Also in 2025, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated 8.3% of Americans of all ages (28 million people) did not have health insurance.

In September 2026, the D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute — which dubs itself “the working people’s think tank” — noted, “In 2025, CEOs were paid 325 times as much as a typical worker — in contrast to 1965, when they were paid 21 times as much as a typical worker.” It said that “from 1978–2025, top CEO compensation shot up 1,316%, compared with a 28% increase in a typical worker’s compensation.”

A call to renewed economic focus

For Brother Homan, these figures collectively represent a call to renewal.

“What have we been doing this whole time?” asked Brother Homan. “It really should break our hearts and spur us to action, to say we haven’t followed through on this. There are demands we need to pursue; that we need to engage.”

Father Robert Sirico, co-founder and president emeritus of the Acton Institute — a think-tank with Michigan and Rome offices that promotes “a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles” — told OSV News he was “surprised that anybody is commemorating” the anniversary of “Economic Justice for All.” 

“I work in this field, and I don’t hear people reference it,” said Father Sirico. “It’s just not a known document … I’m weekly in conversations or seminars talking about all these issues, and Church social teaching — and I can’t remember the last time it was raised.”

So should the U.S. bishops issue a new document concerned with the economy?

“I wouldn’t use ‘Economic Justice for All’ as a point of reference to update,” Father Sirico suggested. “I think one of the great updatings, if you want to call it that, was ‘Centesimus Annus.'” 

‘Centesimus Annus’ and ‘Economic Justice for All’

“Centesimus Annus” is St. John Paul II’s 1991 encyclical marking the 100th anniversary of “Rerum Novarum,” an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII in 1891 widely regarded as a cornerstone of Catholic social doctrine.

“I think ‘Centesimus Annus’ put the social teaching on a much deeper and more profound level of understanding. It gave us more to talk about. I think the themes ‘Economic Justice for All’ raised are good themes — but I think they’ve been made more profound,” he said.

“Economic Justice for All” emphasized multiple principles, including that the economy and work exist for the human person; economic life is inherently moral (versus purely financial); the dignity of the poor is the key measure of economic justice; and everyone has a right to the basic necessities of life.

Additionally, people should have opportunities to participate in economic life; economic freedom must serve the common good; wealth and economic power carry responsibilities, including to creation and future generations; and the global economy must be governed by solidarity and justice.

Concerns Church’s voice on economic justice isn’t being raised enough

“The document is 40 years old — it was written at a time when the bishop’s conference was very different,” Anthony Annett, an economist and author of “Cathnomics: How Catholic Tradition Can Create a More Just Economy,” told OSV News.

But Annett felt the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in recent years shifted its emphasis to focusing on other moral concerns in a way that tended, in his view, “to downplay any of the traditional Catholic social teaching as it relates to the economy.”

Annett indicated this has consequences for the Church’s credible witness.

“For example, in 2008-2009 — the biggest global financial crisis since the Great Depression — they weren’t even able to capably respond to that,” he said. 

Annett added he doesn’t think “Economic Justice for All” could be created now.

“All these issues are crucial — but nobody’s really talking about them,” he said. “I see little space for an authentic Catholic voice on economics.”

Bishops’ framework says economic life issues ‘as relevant’ today as 40 years ago

Jesuit Father Thomas Massaro, a professor of moral theology at Fordham University, reflected “a lot has changed. The bishops have not had long documents like this since the 80s.”

In 1996 (with a 2026 update), the USCCB issued “A Catholic Framework for Economic Life,” a statement of 10 principles drawn from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, papal encyclicals, and “Economic Justice for All.” 

In September 2026, the USCCB noted, “Unfortunately, the principles of economic justice articulated by the bishops in 1986 remain as relevant and necessary today amid persistent poverty, growing inequality, revolutionary technological changes, and the marginalization of many people and communities.”

In response, the USCCB added, “Our faith calls us to evaluate the economy, including our role in it through the lens of human dignity, the common good, the family, creation, and especially the poor and vulnerable.”

Opportunity to renew Catholic moral reflection on the economy

Father Massaro said he welcomed the recent statements the U.S. bishops have issued on Catholic social doctrine. But he added that “as a theologian with an interest in economics, I would just like to see a little bringing up-to-date.”

While suggesting that “Economic Justice for All” provides “a lot of vision,” reflecting on the current economy, he also sees a case for proactivity.

“Put me down as being in favor of the renewal of this document in some way, a new document, or a new version of it,” Father Massaro said. “Maybe we’re overdue to have our bishops lead the Catholic populace into further moral reflection.”

Kimberley Heatherington is an OSV News correspondent. She writes from Virginia.

The post Analysis: As US bishops’ ‘Economic Justice for All’ turns 40, is a new update urgent? first appeared on OSV News.