After holding the "Global Conference on AI and Nuclear War" at the *Laudato Si'* School in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, from July 14 to 16, a group including some twenty Nobel laureates gathered at the Campidoglio in Rome on July 16. There, they signed the "Rome Declaration on Unarmed Peace and Disarming Peace for the Age of AI, Nuclear and Autonomous Weapons, New Digital Norms, and Emerging Digital Development Models." The Rome Declaration calls for the conclusion of an international treaty banning the use of AI in nuclear weapon launch systems.
High-ranking Vatican officials also attended the global conference, including Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life; Cardinal Fabio Baggio, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development; Cardinal Silvano Maria Tomasi, former Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN in Geneva; Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, Archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica; and Cardinal Baldassare Reina, Vicar General of the Diocese of Rome. Former heads of state also participated in the conference. Arthur McDonald, a Canadian astrophysicist and 2015 Nobel laureate in Physics, stated at the closing press conference that "many scientists have welcomed the Pope's encyclical as a document for humanity," adding that "the Pope is in a unique position to warn the world about the risks posed by AI alongside the persistent threat of nuclear weapons."
Maria Ressa, a Filipino journalist and 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, remarked, "I highly value the Pope's leadership regarding the threat of nuclear weapons and his courage in highlighting the moral challenges posed by AI," noting that "scientists, too, are now gathering in faith."
James Muller, an American cardiologist and co-founder of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW)—an organization that received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985—described the Pope’s criticism of the new arms race in Chapter 5 of the encyclical *Fratelli Tutti* (On Fraternity and Social Friendship) as a "huge step forward."
The "Rome Call," comprising six points, begins by stating that "humanity is facing a decisive moment as the nuclear age and the AI age converge," and points out that "humanity has failed to prevent the state of nuclear fear that has persisted since the development of atomic weapons."
The "Rome Call" emphasizes the need for an international treaty to ensure that automated systems never make the final decision to launch nuclear weapons and to guarantee meaningful human control over such decisions. It also calls on AI developers to disclose the principles guiding their models' decision-making and to accept responsibility for them. Furthermore, it explicitly states that fully automated or self-improving AI systems that cannot be monitored by corporations or governments must not be developed. Cardinal Ravasi emphasized, “The ‘Rome Call’ makes it clear that no machine, algorithm, or autonomous system should make decisions that affect human survival,” adding that “decisions regarding life and death, peace and war, and the future of nations and generations yet unborn must remain entirely under responsible and meaningful human control.”
